LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 






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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



@@SS»EL MANNA. 



GOSPEL MANNA 



FOR 



CHRISTIAN PILGRIMS: 



EEINC- 



BRIEF COMMENTS ON RICH TEXTS. 



BY 




REV. HENRY COWLES. 



OBERLIN: 
JAMES M. FITCH. 



IS49. 



jOFC Oyg tESlj 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the 

year 1849, by 

Rev. Henry Cowles, 

la the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Ohio 



PREFACE. 



The greater part of the chapters comprised 
in this volume were published nearly in their 
present form about ten years since in the 
Oberlin Evangelist, under the title of " Short 
Sermons." They are laid before the Christian 
public in their present form in the humble 
hope that they may promote the spirituality 
and consequent usefulness of all who hunger 
and thirst after righteousness. The subjects 
treated are somewhat miscellaneous, the sole 
object in their selection being to have them 

A* 



VI 



PREFACE. 



truly spiritual and practical. If scriptural holi- 
ness shall be hereby promoted, the writer's 
hopes will be met and his prayers answered. 

HENRY COWLE& 
Oberlin, Jan., 1849. 




\ 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 
Contrite heart, 17 

CHAPTER II. 
Mourning for sin, 22 

CHAPTER III. 
Forgiveness of sin, 26 

CHAPTER IV. 
Salvation from sin, 31 



V11I CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

Freeness and fullness of gospel pro- 
visions, 1 37 

CHAPTER VI. 
Necessity of prater, 42 

CHAPTER VII. 
Seeking God, 46 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Fellowship with God, 52 

CHAPTER IX. 
God's feelings towards sin, 58 

CHAPTER X. 
The merciful and faithful High Priest, 63 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER XI. 
The sympathizing High Priest, 70 

CHAPTER XII. 
The work of faith, 75 

CHAPTER XHI. 
Necessity of faith, 81 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Power of faith, 68 

CHAPTER XV. 
Faith working by love, 91 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Faith and works, ,97 

CHAPTER XVE. 
Sustaining grace through faith, 104 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Abiding- in Christ, 112 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Love to Enemies, 119 

CHAPTER XX. 
Stability of heart, 125 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Many deceived, 131 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Human nature of Christ, 142 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
The divine nature of Christ, . . 157 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Remembrance of Christ, 164 



CONTENTS. Xi 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Offices of the Spirit, 171 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
The baptism of the Holy Ghost, 182 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

The baptism of the Holt Ghost — con- 
tinued, 193 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 
Teachings of the Spirit, .202 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Teachings of the Spirit — continued, .... 210 

CHAPTER XXX. 
Teachings of the Spirit — continued, .... 219 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
Teachings of the Spirit— concluded, . . . , 228 



Xll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
The church past and future, 235 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
God's Love for Zion, 241 

CAAPTER XXXIV. 
Mutual responsibility, 247 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
Wise in winning souls, 254 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 
The stone rolled away, 260 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
Israel— a prince with God, 270 

CHAPTER XXXVHI. 
Ascriptions for redeeming love, 276 



GOSPEL MANNA. 



CHAPTER I. 

CONTRITE HEART. 




M To this man will I look, even to him that is 
poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembleth 
at my word." — Isa. 66 : 2. 

*HOis the speaker? "He that 
sitteth on the circle of the 
earth, and the inhabitants there- 
of are as grasshoppers, — that stretcheth 
out the heavens as a curtain, or a tent to 
dwell in" — that makes the highest heav- 
ens his throne, the earth his foot-stool, 
and immensity his habitation; He it is 
who says, " To this man will I look, even 



14 



CONTRITE HEART. 



to him that is poor, and of a contrite 
spirit, and who trembleth at my word." 

Mark now the character described. 
Reader, is it yours ? Is your heart smitten 
for your sin, yea, even with pungent grief 
and brokenness of spirit, because you 
have done wrong against God? Do your 
sins come up in dark and long array, not 
mainly to appal your soul with fear, but 
to pierce it with grief and cover it with 
shame, and sink it low before God in 
prostration? Do you long to hide your- 
self in the dust before God, oppressed 
with the unutterable baseness and cruel 
wrong of your sins? Do you wonder 
exceedingly how God can forgive such a 
skmer as yourself, and almost feel that 
you can never ask it, and scarcely accept 
it if granted? And does your soul refuse 
to be comforted, unless in some way God 
can be honored over you, and the wrong 
you have done Him can be repaired, and 
the dishonor you have cast on his law 
Can be wiped away? Then if such be 



CONTRITE HEART. 15 

your heart, the text speaks to you. It 
breathes unutterable mercy, amazing con- 
descension. That God, whose eyes are a 
flame of fire upon the hardened sinner, 
looks with love on you. That voice 
w T hich broke in thunders from Sinai, whis- 
pers from Calvary to you: " Though your 
sins be as scarlet, they shall be like 
wool ; " For " He pardons like a God." 

Truly it is said of him, that " He has 
respect to the low^ly." Yes, though the 
universe is his care, and the winds and 
the waters are his servants ; though the 
nations are his kingdom, the angels his 
ministers, the heaven of heavens his 
throne, and all the stars his dwelling- 
place and heritage forever, yet his eye 
overlooks not you. Though there are 
purer ones around his spotless throne, 
and sweeter songs and nobler minds, yet 
not thereby does his interest abate for 
you. " To this man will I look." Yes, 
trembling penitent, God looks on thee. 
The glitter of thrones He heeds not — the 



16 



CONTRITE HEART. 



pomp of the great, the swell of the proud 
" He knoweth afar off" — but his regards 
are upon thee, as if it were in his heart 
to love thee. Oh, He does love thee. — 
Amazing, that " the high and lofty One 
who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is 
Holy, who dwelleth in the high and holy 
place, should also dwell with him that is 
of a contrite and humble spirit," — but so 
it is. God has said it, else who could 
believe it ? 

And why said He these words of pre- 
cious, yet most unmerited consolation ? 
" To revive the spirit of the humble, and 
to revive the hearts of the contrite ones." 

Now, therefore, let your soul be pour- 
ed out like water before the Lord. Cast 
your crown at his feet, and yourself too. 
Adore and praise. Strike the harp with 
heaven's own song : — " Not unto us, O 
Lord," " Worthy art thou" of honor, glo- 
ry, praise, all, all, forever and forever. 

And now confide, believe, be a child, 
and trust your Father. Cherish his 



CONTRITE HEART, 17 

smiles. Be glad of those looks of love, 
and sweetly consecrate your being to 
such a God. Can you do less ? Can you 
withhold your heart, your wealth, your 
good name, or any, even the dearest 
things from Him whose look on a dying 
worm is heaven? O ransomed soul, 
withhold not, lest you abuse redeeming 
love, and He who died that you might 
live, and wept that you might sing, 
should weep again over your ungrateful, 
guilty, and periled, if not lost spirit, 
Think of the tears of Jesus — the "look" 
of God. 



CHAPTER II. 

MOURNING FOR SIN. 

J And I will pour upon the house of David, and 
upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of 
grace and of supplication; and they shall look up- 
on me whom they have pierced ; and they shall 
mourn for him as one mourneth for his only 
son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one 
that is in bitterness for his first-born." — Zech. 
12: 10. 

OT all sorrow, nor even all sorrow 
for sin is " repentance unto salva- 
tion," and "sorrow after a godly 
sort." Esau was sad and " cried with a 
great and exceedingly bitter cry," yet 
not for his guilt, but for his loss. And 
Judas " repented himself." He even 
made restitution, and confessed his sin. 

How, then shall we know real from 
spurious sorrow for sin — the holy from the 




MOURNING FOR SIN. 19 

selfish? The text' gives us two charac- 
teristics of gospel repentance, and its an- 
tecedent cause. They " mourn in bitter- 
ness," and they mourn from " looking on 
Him whom they have pierced." These 
are the characteristics ; and this sorrow is 
produced in consequence of God's " pour- 
ing out a spirit of grace and of supplica- 
tion." 

Reader, what is your mourning for sin? 
Too often is such mourning exceedingly 
and basely cheap. It costs little anguish 
— little rending of spirit. What is yours? 
Like the mourning for an only son? — 
with bitterness, as over one's first born? 
Has the sting of sorrow pierced your 
very soul, when goodness abused, and 
love slighted, has led you to repentance ? 
So it must be, and so it should be, for it is 
" an evil and a bitter thing " to have abus- 
ed such love and broken such law. 

Whence arises gospel penitence? — 
"They shall look upon me whom they 
have pierced, and mourn for Him." 



20 MOURNING FOR SIN. 

I knew a sinner under some conviction 
for sin. His soul was solemn. He retir- 
ed to his chamber alone, that he might 
think of his sins, and see what must be 
done. He saw that he had broken God's 
perfect law. He felt sin upon his con- 
science. He saw^ the ceaseless kindness 
of God's providence, which he had requit- 
ed only with abuse and rebellion. He 
saw the righteous doom of the wicked, 
and knew it might be and ought to be his 
own. But after all this, as yet there 
was terror, but no grief — anguish, but no 
broken relenting. At last there seemed to 
stand before him the cross of Jesus ; and 
the impression fastened upon his mind, I 
teas his murderer. It was not the Jews, 
nor the Romans, so much as it was my 
sin that pierced his side and nailed his 
hands ; and yet He looks on me with pity 
and meekness, as if He loved me, and 
would gladly pardon my cruel sins against 
Him. Here his heart broke. The blend- 
ed view of a Savior's sufferings and love, 



MOURNING FOR SIN. 21 

and his own guilt in abusing sucK love, 
touched the deep springs of grief and re- 
lenting. It was sweet to weep, and 
sweet to sink before such a Savior. 

Reader, is this your experience ? Some- 
thing like this in kind you must have felt 
if the Spirit has ever reproved you for sin 
in not having believed on Christ, and if his 
goodness has ever " led you to repent- 
ance." If you have never seen this and 
felt it, go to your chamber — bring before 
you these facts — let them sink into your 
soul — look on Him whom you have pierc- 
ed, and feel that it is you yourself — that 
your hands have virtually done the deed. 

But does every man who thinks over 
these thoughts feel real penitence ? No. 
It is possible for the sinner to know all 
this and see it, and yet harden his heart 
against all right feeling. If he will, he 
can attempt to justify himself against God, 
and wrap himself up in the filthy rags of 
his own self-righteousness, and say with 
the murderers of Christ, and in the same 
1* 



22 MOURNING FOR SIN. 

spirit; "If we had been in the days of 
our fathers, we would not have been par- 
takers with them in the blood of the 
prophets."— Matt. 23 : 30. 

In fact it is only when a spirit of grace 
and of supplication is poured out, that the 
view of Christ crucified calls forth deep 
and sincere mourning for sin. 

Reader, w r ould you open your heart to 
the work of that Spirit, and implore its 
holy presence, and its convicting, melting 
power ? Then ask God in his grace, to 
give you the spirit of prayer, and of bro- 
ken relenting; come down low enough 
before God to ask help and to use it when 
graciously offered ; then in the spirit of 
grace and supplication you will look on 
Him whom you have pierced, and mourn 
with repentance urito salvation not to 
be repented of forever. 



CHAPTER III. 

FORGIVENESS OF SIX. 

" And their sins and iniquities will I remem- 
ber no more."— Heb. 10: 17. 

Vr\ UT can my sin be ever blotted from 
\ *a the memory of God ? Can God 
^y forget, so as to cease to know the 
guilty deeds which I have done '? No — 
this cannot be ; and yet the language has 
meaning. Though God cannot forget, 
yet He can act as if He did. He can 
treat me as if I had never sinned, or as if 
he had utterly forgotten all my past sins, 
"and cast them behind his back," or 
" drowned them in the depths of the sea," 
or, in the expressive language of the Old 
Testament dispensation, covered them, by 
atonement and pardon, so that they are 
seen no more. Yes, God can welcome 



24 FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 

the pardoned sinner to the embrace and 
confidence and communion of his love, as if 
that soul were pure from sin as an angel's. 
And is not this a precious meaning? 

I have wronged a kind, earthly father. 
The act involves both disobedience and 
ungrateful abuse of love. How can I 
bear to meet that father's eye ? Yet it 
does not frown. I could almost wish it 
did — it would be so just. The respect I 
have always felt for him, combined now 
with conscious unworthiness, seems to 
forbid my ever coming into his presence. 
Can he ever be to me a father again ? 
Yes, he knows a way. " My son, says 
he, I know you have done wrong — but 
I am more than happy to see you peni- 
tent and humble. You are welcome to 
my arms as if you had never done it. 
Say no more about that deed, and be as- 
sured I shall never speak of it, or even 
think of it again. You are my son, and 
all a father's love shall rest on you as 
fully as it ever did, or ever could." 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 25 

The reader will remember the inimita- 
ble story of the prodigal son, the beauty 
and glory of which lie in the part sustain- 
ed by the father. Place before your 
mind that father. Think of the insult 
and wrong he had received from his son. 
An oriental father and especially a Jew. 
kept his sons around him on his ancient 
inheritance, from generation to genera- 
tion. Foreign commerce was almost 
forbidden — emigration scarcely tolerated. 
The son who went abroad to other lands 
forsook the ordinances and worship of 
God, and turned his back upon the land 
of Jehovah's promises and footsteps. 

Such w r as the guilt of this son. But 
he returns. " While yet a great way off, 
his father saw him and had compassion, 
and ran and fell on his neck and kissed 
him." He cannot hear through the con- 
fession which his son has prepared, but 
hastens " the best robe and the fatted 
calf," and all the tokens of free pardon, 
and warm-hearted rejoicing. 



26 FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 

And this is God — God to the returning 
penitent. This looks like the spirit of the 
text — " Their sins and their iniquities 
will 1 remember no more." O, what 
cannot God forgive ! This pardoning 
love — it is an ocean, shoreless, fathom- 
less, exhaustless. Let our sins sink into 
it, to be remembered no more. And 
then, reader, shall we go on in sin again, 
and worse than ever? Does not your 
whole soul say within you, no- — never — 
Lord save me from ever sinning again — 
from thee do I seek deliverance, " even 
grace to help in every season of need?" 
If you have not felt this, then are you yet 
a stranger both to all the influences of 
pardon, and to pardon itself. If you 
have felt it, remember the words of your 
Lord — " go, and sin no more." 



CHAPTER IV. 

SALVATION FROM SIN. 

41 Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall 
save his people from their sins." — Matt. 1 ; 21- 

fcHE salvation of a sinner who is both 
condemned and depraved, mani- 
festly includes two parts — deliv- 
erance from condemnation for his sin and 
deliverance from the sin itself; in other 
words, pardon and sanctification. Salva- 
tion must be utterly incomplete, if either 
of these elements be wanting. The sinner 
sanctified, but not pardoned, would be an 
object of pity if not of sympathy with 
the holy ones of heaven ; his heart being 
prepared for heaven's purity and songs, 
while his former sins, yet unpardoned, 
demand his suffering in hell forever. But 



28 SALVATION FROM SIN. 

this difficulty can never occur. No soul 
was ever yet sanctified without the con- 
spiring influence of pardon. We are 
not very prone either to seek for, or to 
presuppose deliverance from sin, before 
deliverance from condemnation. 

But reverse the order, and then many 
are eager to divorce these inseparable 
conditions and parts of man's salvation. 
They love the pardon. The deliverance 
from sin comes soon enough for their 
purpose, if they find it at the grave — 
a passport to heaven. They w r ould not 
be behind their brethren in celebrating 
the great work of Christ for sinners ; but 
still, their minds rest wholly on the par- 
don he procures, and not on his saving 
his people from their sins. Perhaps they 
have not read the text, or have entirely 
failed to understand it. It may not yet 
have entered their minds, that if Christ 
is a Savior at all, " he came to save his 
people from their sins," and that pardon 
is only a preparation for that ultimate 



SALVATION PROM SIN. 29 

end — a threshold only by which that 
building is entered, or a scaffolding to 
facilitate its erection. 

This omission of one part of the Sa- 
vior's work might be better endured, 
were not the part omitted most vital in 
itself, and even essential to salvation 
from hell. " Without holiness no man 
shall see the Lord." "If any man have 
not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 
Those, therefore, who rejoice in the hope 
of pardon, but yet live the slaves of sin, 
lose not only a part, and the chief part of 
the Savior's blessing, but they are sure to 
lose all. Uncleansedfrom sin, they never 
can take those harps of gold, or join that 
heavenly song " to Him who hath loved 
us, and washed us from our sin in his 
own blood." 

And this is as it should be ; for what 
could they do, or enjoy, in heaven? If 
they have done nothing for Christ here, 
into what reward could they enter? To 
what "joy or crown of rejoicing" could 



30 SALVATION FROM SIN. 

they be admitted when they have fought 
their fight, and finished their course, and 
gathered up the fruits of their labors ? 

In another view, this is as it should be ; 
for he who can consent to take the par- 
don and then abuse it with a life of sin, 
ought to go to hell. He who is not moved 
by pardon, and moved, too, sweetly and 
mightily to seek deliverance from sin, 
does not deserve to have pardon : he is 
not fit for heaven; he must "goto bis 
own place." The final adjustment will 
assign his place where the wailing spirits 
are. 

But the Savior will do his blessed work. 
He will save his people from their sins — 
much in this world, (how much we can 
not and need not say,) but completely 
when earthly things shall pass away, and 
faith be changed to sight. I say much in 
this world, because the text plainly refers 
to his work as done here on earth. He 
came here to do it. He assumed the 
name here to signify the work he came 



SALVATION FROM SIX. 31 

here to do. He came to open the way 
for pardon by his death, and to create a 
mighty moral influence, which, in con- 
nection with his Spirit, shall sanctify his 
people. Happy those who receive Christ 
for what he is, and experience in them- 
selves the salvation which he came to 
achieve. 



CHAPTER V. 

FREENES3 AND FULLNESS OF GOSPEL 
PROVISIONS. 

" He that spared not his own Son, but delivered 
Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him, 
also freely give us all things ? — Rom. 8: 32. 

V#* ET the child of God make out the 
if catalogue of his spiritual wants. 
^y$ They cannot stretch beyond the 
" all things," of which the text speaks. 
He may therefore come to this vast store- 
house of blessings and find an adequate 
supply. 

Convicted by sin — condemned by God's 
law — and repelled from his throne — does 
he want pardon ? In Christ it is as free 
as the living waters. " There is no con- 
demnation to them that are in Christ 
Jesus." 



GOSPEL PROVISIONS. 33 

Do past iniquities seem to forbid his 
ever coming like a child to God, and does 
he wish, almost against hope, that these 
sins might be covered, and access to a 
Father's heart be opened ? In Christ it 
is done. " His blood cleanseth from all 
sin." " Their iniquities will I remember 
no more." " Having boldness to enter 
into the the holiest by the blood of Jesus." 

Is his soul fiercely assaulted by Satan 
— distracted with dark and blasphemous 
suggestions — despoiled of hope and peace, 
and filled with fear or even with despair ? 
In Christ is victory and peace. He is strong- 
er than the strong man armed. He van- 
quished the prince of darkness, and " saw 
him fall as lightning from heaven." Read- 
er, you " can do all things through 
Christ strengthening you." With his 
aid, " resist the devil, and he will flee 
from you." 

Does Satan accuse you before God's 
throne day and night? Aware, as you 
must be, how much occasion he has to 



34 FREENESS AND FULLNESS 

accuse you, do you fear that he will pre- 
vail ! "Who is he that condemneth? 
It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is 
risen again, and even now is at the Father's 
right hand, making intercession for us." 

Do you want an Intercessor there to 
plead your cause, to offer your prayers, 
and his own for you ? You have one — 
one whom " God always heareth," for it 
is his own Son — one " who can be touch- 
ed with the feeling of our infirmities,/ 
and who has himself fought with Satan, 
and with the flesh, for he " was tempted 
in all points as we are." " Seeing, then, 
that we have such a great High Priest, 
let us hold fast our profession." 

Christian, do you want victory over 
the world, even every form of sin and 
temptation ? " This is the victory that 
overcometh the world, even our faith" — 
faith in Jesus the Son of God." 

Do you want an abiding interest in 
Jesus' love — a perpetual union of soul 
with Him — his everlasting smiles of 



OP GOSPEL PROVISIONS. 35 

peace and love upon you ? O, how sweet 
the consciousness of having it, but it is 
yours. " Who shall separate us from the 
love of Christ ?" " I am persuaded that 
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor prin- 
cipalities, nor powers, nor things present, 
nor things to come; nor height, nor depth, 
nor any other creature, shall be able to 
separate us from the love of God which 
is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

And finally, do you want to be redeem- 
ed from all that is frail and mortal — 
from all that tempts successfully to sin — 
and have your vile body made like Christ's 
glorious body, and your spirit made for- 
ever pure ? In Christ it shall be done, 
" Whom He justified, them He also glo- 
rified." " Who shall change our vile body 
that it may be like Christ's glorious body." 
" The sting of death is sin ; but thanks 
be to God who giveth us the victory r 
through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Contemplate now the pledge of all 
these blessings. How resistless the argu- 



36 FREENESS AND FULLNESS 

merit ! " He that spared not his own Son, 
how shall He not with Him freely give us 
all things ?" Can God withhold any 
thing, when he has given his Son ? Hav- 
ing paid the ransom, will he leave us to 
perish in prison, slavery, or death ? Hav- 
ing made the stupendous sacrifice, will he 
lightly neglect to secure the great object 
for which the sacrifice was made ? Or, in 
another view, can He who so loved the 
world as to give his only Son, have so lit- 
tle love as to leave his redeemed ones in 
darkness, want, and peril ? Can He who 
loved us, when sinners, enough to give his 
Son, so cease to love us, when partially 
sanctified, as to withhold any aid needful 
for our living to his glory ? Can He who, 
with blood, redeemed us that we might 
be, and should be holy, forget his object 
or grudge the sacrifice requisite to secure 
it ? Impossible ! O, the valid security 
for spiritual blessings ! Can God with- 
hold the needful grace? Never. He 
that spared not his own Son, will give us 



OF GOSPEL PROVISIONS. 37 

all things else that we need. Yes, and 
"freely" too ; with infinite freeness. 
Think how freely he gave his Son. Who 
asked for that unspeakable gift? At 
whose entreaties and strong supplications 
was it given ? O ! it came forth " freely," 
from the bosom of ineffable love! Just 
so freely — though not always unasked — 
but so freely, does God always give. Ye 
that doubt and fear, and shrink away, 
believe it — so freely does God give all 
things that you really need. What shall 
we say, then, to these things ? " If God 
be for us, what on earth or in hell, can 
be against us ?" " Thanks be to God w T ho 
gave Christ — who gives victory — who, 
in Christ, and through Him, " freely gives 
as all things." 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER, 

" Thus saith the Lord God. I will yet for this be 
inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for 
them."—Ezek. 36 : 37. 

[HEN God will have his people ask 
before they receive. Though he 
has promised f and the promise is 
most sure, yet the blessing comes not un- 
sought. 

In regard to his people, God says, " I 
will sprinkle clean water upon you, and 
ye shall be clean ; from all your filthiness P 
and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. 
A new heart also will I give you, and a 
new spirit will I put within you. I will 
put my Spirit within you, and cause you 
to walk in my statutes ;" (v, 25-27) and 



THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. 39 

finally closes by saying, " I will yet for 
this be inquired of by the house of Israel 
to do it for them." Prayer, then, is the 
condition of the Christian's spiritual 
blessings. God will have him pray for the 
good before it is given. 

And why ? 

1. For the good of his people. It were 
not well for them to live afar from God. 
It would be a most sad arrangement which 
should furnish them with their daily bread, 
without their coming to their Father's 
table to ask and receive it. I love to have 
my children gather round my table, and 
ask their father for their daily bread. It 
does me good, and them too. I have the 
happiness of giving, and they of receiv- 
ing. The scene cherishes the sweetest 
affections. It is one of the brightest and 
most precious in the circle of domestic 
enjoyments. 

So around our heavenly Father's table. 
I am glad that we may gather round it 
often — as often as we please, and look 



40 THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. 

up towards that heaven-beaming face, 
and catch the smiles of that unearthly 
love, and ask for the bread of life — 
strength for holy living — pardon for sins 
past — victory over temptation to come. 
As God is happy in this — so am I. It is 
inexpressibly sweet to come believing, 
confiding, loving, and receiving. 

There is, then, reason enough why 
God should say — " I will be inquired of." 
Yes — let the blessing come only with, 
and never without prayer. Let me first 
feel my dependence. Let me be made 
deeply sensible that this good comes from 
my Father. It is then more than twice 
blessed. I could not prize it, if I did not 
know that it came from Him. But w 7 hen 
on my knees, in the dust, I have sought it 
through Christ, and then it comes with a 
Father's smiles, it is full of Heaven. It 
is a Father's blessing. 

2. There is another reason why God 
insists on prayer, namely, That he may 
honor his Son. Look into that upper 



THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. 41 

sanctuary. There Jesus stands, forever 
making intercession for us. There bless- 
ings are sought and given each hour, and 
every blessing given, reflects honor on 
the Son of God, because it is given through 
his name, and for his sake. God loves to 
show his Son this honor. He will have 
it known through all heaven, and through 
the universe, that He gives mercy to the 
guilty only for the sake of his Son. Thus 
He will manifest his regard for Christ, 
and for his injured law. And thus Christ 
" sees of the travail of his soul, and is 
satisfied." Here is part of the "joy set 
before him, for which he endured the 
cross, despising the shame." And we 
are glad to have it so. We are happy 
that Christ should now have his reward 
for all his pains. Once he bore the hid- 
ings of his Father's face — now let him en- 
joy the infinite and everlasting approval of 
the Father, renewed, reiterated afresh in 
every instance, in which, for Christ's sake, 
the Father answers a believing prayer. 



42 THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER. 

In this, too, the Father is both pleased 
and honored. " Whatsoever ye shall ask 
the Father in my name, that will I do, that 
the Father may be glorified in the Son." 

And now will God give me blessings, 
unsought by prayer, and thereby dishon- 
or his Son, and dishonor himself; and try 
to make me happy far away from his own 
table, and from his smiling face, and hap- 
py, too, without rejoicing in the glory of 
my Savior? God could not make me 
happy thus, if he were to try. He might 
lavish on me all earthly good, or raise me 
in heaven to the rank in glory from which 
Satan fell, yet there if I saw not his face — 
received not the favor from his hands — and 
selfishly rejoiced in my own good, but not 
in his glory, I should be only wTetched. 

What wisdom, then, as well as love dic- 
tated the everlasting and blessed condition 
— " I will yet for all this be inquired of by 
the house of Israel to do it for them." 
Why should I ever wish for good, un- 
sought, unblessed ? 



CHAPTER VII. 



SEEKING GOD. 




*' When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart 
said unto thee, Thy face Lord will I seek." — 
Ps. 27; 8. 

f HAT is coming to God ? To 
many it seems all mystery. 
But the Psalmist makes it plain. 
Here we have the very thing in the sim- 
plest language possible. We see the very 
act itself. It is the response of the soul, 
to the voice of God. For God speaks. 
His voice is heard, and the heart leaps up 
at the sound. Yes, God from on high 
looks down on the benighted, hopeless, 
wayward wanderer, and says, " Seek ye 
my face." That voice breaks on the si- 
lence of my despair, like sunlight on the 



44 SEEKING GOD* 

tomb. It throws a light across my path 
of dark wandering, and I look up to be- 
hold it. It is a father's voice inviting to 
his bosom a lost and guilty child. I had 
not supposed it possible that God could 
call me back in love and kindness. Op- 
pressed with conscious guilt, restrained 
by unbelief, and bewildered by the great 
deceiver, I had said, there is no hope for 
me ; and my spirit sunk within me. But 
the voice from heaven breaks on my ear 
— " Seek ye my face," and my heart leaps 
forth for joy, and responds — "Thy face, 
Lord, will I seek." This is coming to God. 
It is not going on a pilgrimage to some 
far land, where God may be deemed pe- 
culiarly present. It is not the tasking of 
one's soul with a penance of tears, and 
vows, and prayers. Nor is it the draw- 
ing nigh with the lips when the heart is 
far off. But it is the heart replying to 
God— "Thy face, Lord, will I'seek." 
The soul itself goes forth to seek and find 
its Maker. 



SEEKING GOD. 45 

And it goes at his bidding. It does 
not rush uncalled into Jehovah's awful 
presence. It does not come in its own 
way either, but in the way of God's pro- 
viding. When the golden sceptre is ex- 
tended it ventures to approach. When a 
father speaks, in the bursting of a parent's 
heart of love, then the child, though long 
estranged in guilt and darkness, may come, 
and humbly hope for the smiles of life. 

Nor does he hope in vain. That call 
from God which breaks on my ear so 
strangely is not delusive ! that I should 
follow it only to disappointment and deep- 
er despair. It is not unmeaning, so that 
I may find that Father's heart cold and re- 
pulsive towards me, when I have sought 
his face with all my heart. It is not a 
transient gush of parental feeling, which 
having depended on to-day, I may find 
changed or gone to-morrow. No. It is 
none of these things. It is God's own 
voice, breathing in sincerity the feelings 

of his heart of changeless love. It can- 

2* 



46 SEEKING GOD. 

not deceive me. It never yet has deceiv- 
ed one returning penitent. And it never 
will. 

Reader, you may come at its sweet 
call — you will find a Father's heart gush- 
ing with love and joy to meet you. Only 
seek as you should. Only come, thou needy, 
guilty one, in this spirit, and mercy is at 
hand. Yes, were sinners of every rank, 
and every grade of guilt, from under the 
whole heaven, to come thus, even " as 
clouds and as doves to their windows" be- 
fore a gathering storm, they would not be 
too numerous to find mercy. Not one, 
coming in such a spirit, could be rejected. 
Such coming would be a jubilee to hea- 
ven. Oh, haste that promised, blessed 
day of earth's deliverance, and heaven's 
rejoicing. It will come when the hearts 
of men throughout a sinful world shall 
say — "Thy face, Lord, will I seek." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. 

' Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and 
with his Son, Jesus Christ." — 1 Jno. 1 : 3. 

I O an Apostle affirms of himself, and 
his Christian brethren. But what 
is this fellowship, which exists be- 
tween redeemed sinners, and their God, 
and Savior? It implies, 

1. Friendship. " How can two walk 
together unless they be agreed ?" What 
fellowship can God have with sinners, 
w r hile they are " enemies to Him, by wick- 
ed works ;" or they with Him, while in 
their hearts, " they say unto God, Depart 
from us, for we desire not the knowledge 



48 FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. 

of thy ways," and "Who is the Lord, 
that I should obey his voice?" 

Manifestly, then, the foundation for 
fellowship must be laid in friendship. The 
sinner must be reconciled to God, through 
the blood of the cross, and by an entire 
conversion of his own feelings from alien* 
ation to affection — from stubborn, proud 
indifference, to broken-hearted penitence. 
From the attitude of an enemy to God 
and Christ* he must take that of a friend, 
Then the way is open for fellowship. 

2. Fellowship implies love. 

Not all who feel friendly towards each 
other, have real fellowship. Rational, 
hearty, efficient fellowship, there cannot 
be, except on the foundation of real love 
between the subjects of such fellowship. 

Reader, you cannot have fellowship 
with Christ, unless you really love his 
character, and let your very soul flow out 
in sweet complacency, as you contem- 
plate his beauties and glories. J\ T or can 



FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. 49 

Christ hold fellowship with you, except as 
he sees in you this beauty, which his soul 
loves — the beauty of pure and glowing 
affection for himself. 

3. Fellowship implies sympathy — yes, 
necessarily, and eminently. We might 
almost say, that fellowship is sympathy 
— a fellow feelins — the beating of hearts 
in unison, as their affections fasten on the 
same objects, and flow in the same 
channel. 

Dear reader, do you know any thing of 
this sympathy with Christ ? Do you feel 
as he felt, for the Church — for God's 
glory — for a sinking world? Did you 
ever enter into the sympathies of his 
bursting heart, as he wept over the mur- 
derous city, or drank, for the guilty sin- 
ner, the cup of pain — or bore on his 
heart, in prayer, his ransomed people, 
imploring for them, union, peace, and ho- 
liness ? Do you pray for what he prayed, 
and as he prayed ? Such prayer holds 
sympathy with Christ. I cannot doubt 



50 FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. 

that the beloved disciple felt, and prayed 
thus, and had this very thing in view, 
when he said, " Truly, our fellowship is 
with the Father, and with his Son Jesus 
Christ." 

4. Fellowship implies, also, co-opera- 
tion. For in God's kingdom, and surely, 
in this great moral hospital, benevolent 
sympathies do not need to die away in 
sickly sentimentalism. There is always 
scope enough for benevolent action. Lit- 
tle proof of genuineness, does that kind 
of Christian love exhibit, which is satisfied 
with doing nothing for Christ, and for a 
sinking world. Not so did Christ either 
feel, or live. In his life, " he went about 
doing good :" in his heart he loved this 
work too sincerely to let his soul flow 
away in languishing good wishes, with 
no self-sacrificing labors. 

Reader, in this blessed work, do you 
co-operate with Christ ? Is your hand 
with his, in the needful toil, for enlight- 



FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. 51 

ening, persuading, and converting your 
fellow men? Does the same love im- 
pel you ? Do the same sympathies draw 
you? 

If so, then truly you " have fellow- 
ship with the Father, and with his 
Son." And you love the work. It co- 
incides so perfectly, and sweetly with 
your feelings, that it is your supreme 
delight. And you are glad, also, that 
the honor, and glory of it fall, where 
they are due — not to yourself, but whol- 
ly " to Him that sits on the throne, and 
to the Lamb forever." 

Have you ever thought of the priv- 
ilege you enjoy — too high for thought 
to measure — too high, almost, to be 
true, and real — only as nothing is too 
much for infinite Love to give? Dwell 
a moment on the idea. Fellowship with 
the Father, and with his Son ! Sym- 
pathy, in spirit, with the Infinite Mind 
that sways the universe ! Sympathy in 
labor, with him who built the heavens, 



52 FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. 

and now is building the spiritual kingdom 
of righteousness and peace. O ! the ex- 
alted partnership ! A worm allied with 
Infinity ! A frail, guilty, but pardoned 
mortal, associated with the purest, bright- 
est, best of beings — the great eternal 
Fountain of all purity, and love ! 

Let the crowns of earthly monarchs 
pass for dust, and their ambition and 
all their glory be our pity. It shall 
be enough, and more than enough for 
us, that our " fellowship is with the 
Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ." 



CHAPTER IX. 
god's feelings towards six. 

" Oh, do not this abominable thing which 1 
hate."— Jer. 44: 4. 

^?HOSE voice do we hear in 

/ 




these words ? Who is this en- 
treating us not to sin because 
it is that abominable tiling which his 
soul hates ? Is it indeed God, and does 
his own voice break on our ear, in ac- 
cents of imploring entreaty? This is 
not the manner of a tyrant who loves to 
see his enemies suffer, nor of one who is 
reckless of the well-being of others. 
This looks not like what God is often 
thought to be. It does not bear the as- 
pect of one who loves to command, and 
who lives only for the sake of exercising 



54 god's feelings 

and displaying power. No ; this lan- 
guage breathes the spirit of love. It is 
sympathy for mortals. This will appear 
manifestly enough if w r e look a moment 
into the subject. 

For why does God hate sin? I answer ; 
not merely because it is disobedience and 
rebellion towards Himself. It is not be- 
cause God happens to have committed 
Himself in giving a certain law T ,and now 
must at all sacrifices sustain the course 
to which He is committed. Nor is it 
merely because his own authority is in- 
sulted. There is a principle by which 
men in power feel the insult of disobe- 
dience keenly because it is their own au- 
thority which is disputed. Not so with 
God. Nor again is it because God loves 
to rule, and has created us merely for the 
sake of having subjects to rule over. Nor 
finally, does God hate sin because He 
fears that He shall lack the needful power 
to punish and repress rebellion. But God 
hates sin because sin destroys the happi- 



TOWARDS SIN. 55 

ness of his sinning creatures. This is the 
fundamental reason. Sin poisons happi- 
ness, both that of the sinner, and that of 
all other beings who ever feel its influ- 
ence, and God loves to have all his crea- 
tures happy. Therefore God can not 
love, but must hate sin. Therefore is sin 
that abominable thing which He utterly 
hates, and never can see without grief 
and abhorrence. 

Any why does God so earnestly entreat 
us not to sin ? The answer is obvious and 
richly instructive. 

It is (1.) because God desires us to 
cease from sinning — yes most sincerely 
and intensely desires that we should sin 
no more at all, forever. And (2.) be- 
cause the way for Him to prevent our 
sinning is to persuade us not to sin. 
Strange notions often becloud men's 
minds on this point. It is by some as- 
sumed that God moves men not to sin 
just as He moves a planet in the heavens, 
,or the ocean in its bed. If this view 



56 god's feelings 

were the truth, there would indeed be no 
reason but much hypocrisy in such an 
entreaty as our text. But if men are 
entirely moral agents in the matter of 
sinning and of ceasing to sin, then God 
must act upon us as moral agents, and his 
entreaty comes perfectly in place among 
the cogent reasons to dissuade us from 
sinning. 

Let another consideration be now sug- 
gested, which to every professedly Chris- 
tian reader is worthy of most solemn, 
heart-searching regard. God speaks these 
words to his professed people — if you are 
one of them to you. The spirit of the 
message seems to say, " Why will my 
people sin ? Why will they sin at all? 
Have they not known how I have loved 
them, and how much I have loved them, 
and how much I have done to save their 
souls from sin, and with what infinite 
sacrifices I have done it? And do they 
not know that I can not endure to have 
them sin ? Surely they know my feelings 



TOWARDS SIX. 



57 



on this point ; and is it possible they can 
be reckless of the grief I feel when they 
sin against me ? I had taken them into 
my family and into my bosom as my 
•dear children, and they said they would 
treat me as their Father and love me su- 
premely, and renounce the world and all 
sin. Oh, why will they still do that 
abominable thing which I hate ? Do they 
claim that they can not cease from sin, 
and throw it back upon me as a defect in 
my provisions for their being cleansed 
from sin ? — and all this after I have given 
them such promises — all this when actu- 
ally they have not believed the promises 
I have given, and will not come and ask 
for the aid which they might have ? O, 
why will they do this most abominable 
thing of all, and cherish unbelief as if 
they could put no confidence in their own 
great Father ? 

The reader will bear in mind that when 
God speaks it is due from us to listen. It 
is also due from us to give Him credit for 



58 god's feelings towards sin. 

honesty, and real, truth-telling sincerity. 
And now, professed Christian, do you be- 
lieve that God hates sin — all sin — all your 
sin, and that He really entreats you not 
to sin again, ever? Then just here let 
me ask again; does He thus entreat you 
to cease from all sin, having made pro- 
visions of grace to help you thus to 
cease, or not having made provisions-/ 
enough for this purpose? Which alter- 
native is the truth? Which will you 
take ? Which corresponds best with the 
gospel, with the promises, with God's re- 
vealed plan of salvation through Christ, 
with God's known character, with your 
wants, and with w T hat you wish when 
God is most manifestly with you ? And 
if ample grace to help you cease from 
sin, is actually offered and at hand, 'with 
what accumulated force comes home the 
appeal of entreaty from God, " why will 
ye sin any more ? O, do not this abom- 
inable thing which I hate ?" 



CHAPTER X, 

THE MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST. 

14 Wherefore in all things, it behoved Him to be 
made like unto his brethren, that He might be 
a merciful and faithful High Priest, in things 
pertainng to God, to make reconciliation for the 
sins of the people. For in that He Himself 
hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to suc- 
cor them that are tempted."— Heb. 2: 17, 18. 

fHE plan of God for the salvation of 
sinful men, is a tissue of wonders. 
Look at the work of mediation., 
Contemplate, for a moment, the thing to 
be done. One must be found who can 
stand between guilty man and his right- 
eous God — one who can come down to a 
vile, base mortal, and win his confidence, 
and touch his heart, and feel his sorrows ; 
and who can then rise with more than 



60 THE MERCIFUL AND 

angelic dignity and influence, and stand 
before infinite purity, and plead for the 
guilty, not in vain. .Who can unite in 
himself this sympathy with mortals, and 
this dignity before the King Immortal? 
Who shall be the bosom friend of sinful 
man, and the prevailing Advocate before 
his spotless Maker? In whom shall 
these wide extremes be sweetly blended? 
And how shall the thing be done ? 

God's wisdom devised a plan, and his 
love achieved it. Since qualities almost 
infinitely unlike w r ere needed to consti- 
tute a Mediator — since there must be the 
sympathy of a man and the dignity of a 
God — Jehovah said — " Let there be a 
union. Let the Son of my right hand 
ally Himself with one of that lost race. 
Let human nature and divine be sweetly 
blended in the great High Priest of mor- 
tals." 

The thing is done. "In all things it 
behoved Him to be made like unto his 
brethren, that He might be a merciful and 



FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST. 61 

faithful High Priest, in things pertaining 
to God. For in that He Himself hath suf- 
fered, being tempted, he is able to suc- 
cor them that are tempted." Yes, He 
must be like his brethren, before He can 
be both " merciful and faithful" in his 
mediations. He must know their wants, 
their weaknesses, and their woes. Then 
He can be merciful. He must know how 
they suffer — how they are tempted — and 
what they need to sustain them; — then He 
can be faithful. Now, astonishing to 
tell, Christ knows all this by his own ex- 
perience. " Having suffered Himself, be- 
ing tempted; he is able to succor them 
that are tempted." 

Christian reader, have you thought of 
Jesus Christ as your elder brother ? Do 
you see Him a man — a man of sorrows, 
temptations, buffetings, and trials — of hu- 
man sympathies, and human frailties, too? 
— and have you ever thought of Him, as 
entering into all your sorrows, even like 
your nearest bosom friend? You know 
3 



62 THE MERCIFUL AND 

He did thus when He lived among his 
chosen ones on earth. Then there was no 
heart in all that sweet community which 
sympathized so quickly, and so keenly 
with every falling tear as his did. Not 
one wept so freely over a brother's grave 
— not one felt more tenderly, or moved 
more promptly in view of the common 
ills of sickness and infirmity than He. He 
was a swift angel of mercy in this prison- 
house of woe. 

And has a change passed over Him, now 
that his mansion is on high, and He walks 
not among the sinning and sorrowing, but 
sits enthroned among the praises of the 
ransomed ? Ah, no : for " He is the same 
yesterday, to-day, and forever." No: 
for though He sits on his high throne, He 
yet lives among his own people. " Lo I 
am with you always, even to the end of 
the world." No change is there in Him, 
seeing that now "He ever liveth to make 
intercession for us ;" a great High Priest 



FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST. 63 

still, " passed into the heavens, Jesus the 
Son of God." 

And is He still a man, a brother? — and 
can He feel for me, as one who has suf- 
fered like me can feel ? Sometimes this 
seems to be too much — in kindness, in 
condescension, too much : too much to be 
true, and too much for me to believe. But 
I must rebuke this unbelief, and pour out 
my heart in praise and wonder. Thou 
Lamb of Calvary — thou man of sympa- 
thies and sorrows — let me take my place 
at thy feet, like her of old, and "wash 
them with my tears." And may I lean 
upon thy bosom too, and know that thou 
wilt bear me up, and hold me fast, and be 
my friend and helper, my refuge and de- 
fender amid all my temptations, toils and 
trials through this warring life? Then I 
am ready for the conflict. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE SYMPATHIZING HIGH PRIEST. 

V For we have not an High Priest who can not 
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; 
but was in all points tempted like as we are , 
yet without sin." — Heb.k: 15. 

*E have not an High Priest who 
can not sympathize with mor- 
tals. But suppose we had such 
an one. Suppose his power and influ- 
ence in that high court to be supreme, 
but suppose he does not know how to 
understand and feel our case. Then his 
rebuke could not be tempered with that 
most touching condescension and partial 
extenuation, which appear in the history 
of our Lord. Such an High Priest could 
not say of his people — "The spirit indeed 
is willing, but the'flesh is weak," 




SYMPATHIZING HIGH PRIEST. 65 

Suppose Him to be Gabriel. There is 
no lack of benevolence. Gabriel would 
love to plead our cause, and help us in 
our spiritual warfare. But how could 
Gabriel sympathize with our weaknesses, 
"be able to succor us when tempted," and 
tenderly "help our infirmities?" 

Or suppose this High Priest to be only 
divine. He would indeed know all that 
could be known about us, our infirmities, 
temptations — every thing that can either 
modify our trials, or admit of extenuation. 
But all this is not sympathy. Even though 
there be combined with it all the benevo- 
lence of God's love, still it is not sympathy. ~ 
It can not draw forth our confidence like 
the offered aid of a brother. There 
would be indeed enough of love and 
enough of power. But such an High 
Priest would fail in the great qualifica- 
tion of a sympathy which melts our 
hearts, wins our confidence, and charms 
our souls away from sin and unbe- 
lief. 



66 SYMPATHIZING HIGH PRIEST. 

The man Christ Jesus, in mysterious 
union with the Eternal Son, combines all 
we want. No arm is mightier than his 
— no knowledge of our case is more per- 
fect — no heart so wonderfully sympa- 
thizing, so tender, so condescending. 

Christian reader, think of your great 
High Priest, and see his adaptation to 
your wants. 

Have you trials ? So had He. Are 
you poor in earthly good ? So was He. 
Often needy ! So was He. Dependent? 
So was He. 

Do trials touch your temper and pa- 
tience I Are you reviled ? And was not 
Christ ? Are you wronged, rejected, per- 
secuted for righteousness* sake ! Surely 
not more than Christ. But you are 
tempted perhaps to peevishness, through 
much weariness of the flesh. And Christ, 
too, was often weary ; and so worn with 
toil and trial that " his visage was more 
marred than any man. and his form more 
than the sons of men/' 



SYMPATHIZING HIGH PRIEST. 67 

Perhaps you complain of appetite as a 
grievous temptation. Christ, too, had ap- 
petites, and once after fasting forty days, 
the subtle tempter told Himf to command 
the stones to be made bread. Christ 
wanted the bread, but repelled the temp- 
tation. He knows the strength of temp- 
tation addressed to appetite. You may 
have his sympathy, and you may have 
his grace to help. 

It may be you are tempted grievously 
to ambition. So was Christ. The devil 
showed Him all the kingdoms of the 
world, and fhe glory of them, and offered 
them to Him as cheaply as he now r offers 
them or their like to you. But mark the 
simple majesty of that, principle by which 
Christ withstood. " Thou shalt worship 
the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt 
thou serve." To serve and worship God 
is the one supreme object of his being. 
For Himself j He has no glory to seek, no 
power to gain. 



68 SYMPATHIZING HIGH PRIEST. 

Bat you are tried with cares. And 
Christ had as many physical wants to 
care for as you have. 

You have also responsibilities. But 

not like his who had the hypocrisy of one- 
professed church to rebuke — the igno- 
rance of another to enlighten, their unbe- 
lief to bear with and reprove, a new spir- 
itual kingdom to organize and establish, 
and a dying world on his hands and his 
heart to save. Surely Christ knows how- 
to sympathize with him who sustains 
many and w T eighty responsibilities. 

And will you mention losses of wealth? 

Christ lost all — only He made it a free- 
will sacrifice, "for our sakes becoming 
poor, that we, through his poverty might 
be made rich." 

Or speak you of the loss of friends ? 
Christ' too lost friends, and felt the sympa- 
thies of nature flowas you do. And Christ 
too knows of pain — doubtless of sickness 
— surely of infirmity, anguish, death — and 



SYMPATHIZING HIGH PRIEST. 69 

to crown all, He was a mark for all the 
fiery darts of the adversary. Be assured 
He knows all about your temptations. 
Astonishing indeed that He should know 
them by such means — by laying his bosom 
bare to their arrows — by coming down to 
the arena of strife, and fighting the battle 
on our ground and with only our weapons. 
But so He did. For mark: He did not repel 
temptation with the almighty power of a 
God. He used only prayer and the "sword 
of the Spirit," which are given us. " It is 
written," said He, and humbly bowed the 
knee in prayer that God would save Him 
from that hour. And such are the means 
and aids afforded 'us. True, the angels 
strengthened Him, and so they do his 
people. But we have another helper — 
this same meek, kind, sympathizing Jesus. 
Such an High Priest, Christ had not in his 
trials. How sweet to his soul it would 
have been to have had the sympathy and 
help of one who stood above Him just as 
He now stands above us. Christian, how 
3* 



70 SYMPATHIZING HIGH PRIEST. 

sweet it should be to thy soul to know Je- 
sus as thy Rock, thy Refuge — an Higb 
Priest who can be touched with the feel- 
ing of all thy infirmities, and yet " is able 
to save to the uttermost all that come unto 
God through Him." 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE WORK OF FAITH. 



" Remembering without ceasing your work of 
faith and labor of love, and patience of hope 
in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God 
and our Father. — 1 Thess., 1 : 3. 

fTTlHIS reveals the great secret of 
\ / primitive Christian character. Is 
wbt it asked, what made those preach- 
ers and those churches such Christians ? 
What gave birth to labors so ardent, so 
unwearied, so self-sacrificing, and yet so 
cheerful? What prompted such sacrifices 
and hardships? And what blended with 
so much suffering, so much unrivalled 
consolation? The answer is before us. 
The secret is out. Their work was the 
"work of faith" They believed, and 



72 THE WORK OF FAITH. 

therefore acted. Their faith was not a 
dead letter. It was Dot believing and yet 
no believing. They did not manage, by 
gome strange art, to believe, and yet live 
as if they believed not. But they be- 
lieved honestly and really, what they 
professed to believe. Such faith produced 
works. No wonder they worked when 
the vivid realities of a Savior's love and 
glory were before them, and eternal 
scenes lived and glowed in their eye. 

Again, theirs was the " labor of love" 
Not labor prompted by self-righteousness, 
or pride, or thirst for ambitious distinction. 
Not labor goaded out of them by a re- 
buking conscience, or a frowning Deity, 
or the demands of public sentiment, or 
the chidings of their minister ; and not 
labor done to prop a tottering hope ; — but 
in a word, the labor of love. Love, sweet 
love, inspired it. Love to Christ filled the 
heart, and ruled the life. Why should it 
not lead to patient, ardent labor? How 



THE WORK OF FAITH. 73 

could it fail to " make their willing feet 
in swift obedience move ?" 

Then there was the "patience of hope" 
Their circumstances called for suffering. 
They had need of patience. They must 
often endure every thing which human 
nature can be made to suffer. What 
shall sustain them? The gospel hope — * 
" hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." Not 
the faint hope that they might possibly 
reach heaven, but the " strong hope which 
is an anchor to the soul, sure and stedfast, 
thrown within the vail" — made fast in 
the inner sanctuary. Think of the great 
sheet anchor, fastened to the Rock of the 
promises ; or to double the figure, see the 
anchor of hope lodged in the inner sanc- 
tuary, under the very eye of Him who 
sits upon the mercy seat between the 
cherubim. 

With such a hope, can your vessel be 
tossed, and dash, and perish? Can you fear 
it? Rather with such a hope can you not 
endure these "light afflictions which are 



74 



THE WORK OF FAITH. 



but for a moment," and which you know 
shall " work out" for you " a more ex- 
ceeding and eternal weight of glory?" 
Such hope had they, such love, such faith. 
Is it a strange thing that the result was 
work, and labor, and patience ? 

Is such the piety of the Christian church 
generally in our age ? Would it were 
so. I wish there were less reason to ap- 
peal to the Christian public and ask — are 
there not collisions, dissensions, animos- 
ities, suspicions, and party jealousies 
among you which some of you bewail 
before God with bitter anguish ? Is there 
not apathy, too, and worldliness and 
prayeiiessness and death in the bosom of 
the church, instead of the work of faith 
and the labor of love? "Tell it not in 
Gath," and scarcely whisper it even, 
when you pour your silent sorrows into the 
ear of Jesus, and let your charity apolo- 
gize when she can — but yet it is a grief 
lying heavy on the heart, that such should 
be the state of Christ's church in our land. 



THE WORK OF FAITH. 75 

And do you ask the remedy? We 
have it. Return to the "work of faith, 
and the labor of love, and the patience of 
hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." Revive 
a languid faith, rekindle the fires of love, 
and make sure the anchor of hope. These 
things done, w r ould put a new face on the 
action of the Christian world. There 
would be waking to new life. There 
would be doing then, and the doing which 
we need— £Ae doing of love. 

Christian reader, shall it begin with you? 
Will you cherish this spirit of faith, and 
love, and hope? Will you take it into 
your own bosom, and let it find a sweet 
home there ? It will gladden that home 
with the peace, and the light, and the joy 
of heaven. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



NECESSITY OP FAITH. 



" Without faith it is impossible to please God."- 
Heb. 11 : 6. 



¥OUir 
thin^ 
with 



may do any thing and every 
else which may be done 
without faith, and yet not please 
God. You may be moral up to the high- 
est standard which men adopt for them- 
selves ; you may be just, and honest, and 
generous, according to the best rules of 
earthly make, and yet not please God. 
You may adopt all the forms of religious 
worship you ever heard of, Jewish or 
Christian, even like Him who fasted twice 
in a week, and gave tithes of all, and yet 
did not please God. You may bestow all 
your goods to feed the poor and yet fail of 



NECESSITY OF FAITH. i i 

pleasing God. Your social and domestic 
virtues may be of the first order, so that 
you shall secure the high respect and 
strong affection of your fellow mortals, 
and yet you shall not thereby secure the 
favor of your Maker. You may even be 
as penitent as a sinner can be without 
looking on Him whom he has pierced, 
and without having his heart melted with 
the infinite kindness of Jesus, shown to 
the humble, confiding sinner, and yet your 
sorrows may fail to please God. Or you 
may have fears and anguish insupportable, 
and make your tears your meat day and 
night, and God be not propitiated by all this. 
And why ? Is it impossible or even 
hard to please God ? Has He the lofty 
disdainful bearing of some of the men 
of earth, which will not be pleased? 
Shall we ascribe it to his sovereign arbi- 
trariness that nothing will please Him 
without faith ? No, no. There are most 
weighty reasons why you can not please 
God without faith. You have broken his 



78 



NECESSITY OF FAITH. 



law. He wants to save you — but only in 
a way that shall sustain and not ruin his 
kingdom. You will not come in that 
way. Thus you will not allow God to 
bless you. You put yourself beyond the 
reach of his mercy, and impiously appeal 
to his justice, while justice condemns 
you. You ask God to treat you as if you 
had never sinned, and had no need of par- 
don and mercy through a Redeemer. 
You ask God to love you for your ima- 
gined good things, and insult Him by as- 
suming that you have done nothing amiss. 
Thus you place yourself beyond the range 
of his grace, and make it impossible for 
God w T ith all his infinite love to be pleased 
with you. 

Again, you will not confide in Him as 
your Father and Friend. Is it strange 
that God should ask you to have confi- 
dence in his word and in his love ? — or 
that He should be grieved and not pleased 
when you withhold it? While in the na- 
ture of the case, He only can pay your 



NECESSITY OF FAITH. 79 

mighty debt, and in the fullness of his 
infinite love, He is willing to do it, may 
He not at least ask you to trust Him for 
it? Is it too much for Him to say, "Look, 
wandering child, to your father, and be- 
lieve his word, and trust his offered par- 
don ? Come to my bosom with the filial 
confidence of a pardoned child?" 

When the Great Father sent forth to 
us " his well-beloved," he said, "They 
will reverence my Son." When this Son 
magnified the law and made it honorable, 
so that God could be just and yet justify 
the guilty, and when on this ground He 
offered pardon to all believing penitents, 
it did seem that they would come, and 
both welcome the gift and honor the Giver. 
But " they denied the Lord that bought 
them." They trampled under foot God's 
Son. — This is unbelief. They will not re- 
ceive God's testimony concerning his Son, 
and will not take his offered pardon. Is 
it strange that with such sinners, God is 
not well-pleased? 



80 



NECESSITY OF FAITH. 



Unbelief virtually " makes God a liar." 
It rejects his testimony. It says, " Though 
you threaten death and damnation, we 
do not fear it. Though you warn us to 
flee, we will not regard it. Though you 
offer pardon, and though if your words 
be true we perish without it, yet we 
will not take it. Though you invite us 
to trust Christ for salvation, and confide 
in thy love, we will trust neither Christ 
nor God." Such unbelief " makes God a 
liar." Is it marvelous that God should 
not be pleased with it ? 

But faith pleases God. Poverty-strick- 
en beings, owing ten thousand talents, 
with nothing wherewith to pay — the only 
acceptable thing we can do is to trust 
Christ to pay the debt. Long and deeply 
polluted, the best thing we can do is to 
come to the fountain, and by grace, be 
w r ashed and clothed in white. It would 
seem as if the chief request that our Fath- 
er makes of us, is that we commit our 
souls to him to be blessed — that we believe 



NECESSITY OF FAITH. 81 

his love, trust his grace, and confide in his 
Son and Spirit for pardon, peace, purity, 
and perfect blessedness. 

With such, God is well pleased. Over 
such the risen Savior weeps with joy. 
They are the "travail of his soul," the "joy 
that was set before Him," and He can be 
happy in filling their souls with heaven. 
The infinite Father's heart glows with joy 
amid the yearnings of compassion, and He 
says, " Now I can bless my son ;" " bring 
forth the best robe ; my son was dead, and 
is alive again ; was lost and is found." 



CHAPTER XIV. 



POWER OF FAITH. 



•• Jesus answered — woman, great is thy faith, 
be it unto thee even as thou wilt." — Matt. 15 : 
28. 

|HUS Christ loves great faith, and 
thus mightily does it prevail. Such 
faith as this, humble, strong, urgent, 
obtains the golden key. Christ seems to 
say, " There is my treasure-house — take 
what you will — all you ask is yours." 

And is this the manner of our Lord ? 
Are these the laws of his spiritual king- 
dom ? May we dare to ask for blessings 
at all — dare to believe at all that we shall 
receive them ? May we go farther, and 
presume to ask for great blessings, and 
really expect that Jesus will give them ? 



POWER OP FAITH. 83 

Nay more — is it possibly true that noth- 
ing pleases God and his Son so well as the 
strongest faith and the largest requests? 
Christian reader, this is true. Do you 
ask how it can be ? " God's ways are 
not like our ways." 

1. God is love. This love is well-wish- 
ing towards his creatures. Its essence is 
desire to do them good, and delight in 
doing it. The heart of infinite love has 
been moved to compassionate sorrow 
towards his fallen creatures, because He 
could not bless them with his favor, and 
make them infinitely happy in his love. 
They would not be blessed. And a father's 
heart was grieved. 

But the believer puts himself where God 
can bless him. The more he believes, the 
more God can bless. The stronger the 
faith, and the more enlarged the desire, 
the more is that soul opened to receive 
the rivers of God's blessings, and of course 
the more does God delight in the attitude 
which that soul has taken. 



84 POWER OF FAITH. 

2. Faith honors God, and the stronger 
it be, it honors God the more. For it 
treats God more as it should. It ac- 
knowledges Him to be more nearly what 
He is. The strongest faith, provided it be 
real faith in God's true character and 
promises, is never in excess — never goes 
beyond what the nature and the revela- 
tions of God warrant. 

Moreover, such faith exhibits God in 
his true character before the world and 
the universe. It does not hold Him up as 
a liar, but as a being of infinite truth and 
love. Wherever it is known that such 
views are entertained of God, there an im- 
pression is made which honors God. 

And more. Then God can sanction 
that faith by pouring out his oceans of 
blessings and thus can honor Himself, as 
He delights to do, by unfolding the bound- 
lessness of his love. 

3. Faith asks for holiness — it trusts 
God to give spiritual blessings, and there- 
fore God loves it. Is it any wonder that 



POWER OF FAITH. 85 

the will of God should be our sanctifica- 
tion ? " That God should delight] in this 
above every thing else, and therefore be 
most of all pleased with that faith which 
aspires to breathe the very spirit of 
Christ, and with the strongest grasp and 
sweetest assurance takes hold of " the 
exceeding great and precious promises ? " 
Is it not quite natural that Christ should 
choose to have his people like Himself, 
that He should be best pleased to have his 
whole church what an inspired apostle 
calls " a glorious church, without spot or 
wrinkle, or any such thing ? " And fur- 
ther, that He should wish to have them 
become so as soon as possible, and be best 
pleased with those who seek most earnest- 
ly for that blessed character now, and 
who honor Him by believing that such 
are his desires and such his readiness to 
bless ? Is it marvelous that God should 
delight to have his children pure rather 
than polluted, believing, rather than faith- 
Iess,and that too now? Christian reader, 
4 



OO POWER OF FAITH. 

do you deem this a strange thing ? Cao 
you brand it as heresy ? 

Will you not rather believe assuredly 
that God delights in faith and holiness, and 
then practically take hold of his exceed- 
ingly great and precious promises? " By 
these, we may become partakers of 
the divine nature. By these, (coupled 
always with our own efforts, we may 
overcome the corruptions that are in 
the w r orld through lust. By these 
the strength of God becomes our 
strength, it " being perfect in our weak- 
ness," and afforded us continually "in 
every season of need," 




CHAPTER XV. 

FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avail- 
eth any thing, nor uncircumcision ; but faith 
which worketh by love. 5 ' — Gal. 5: 6. 

*OT forms nor ceremonies, then, 
nor self-righteousness, how much 
soever valued, can avail anything 
in the religion of Christ; nothing can, but 
" faith which worketh by love." " Faith 
which worketh by love "—the language, 
how rich it is in meaning ; how perfectly 
to the point ; how concisely and forcibly 
does it describe the nature and action of 
that faith which saves the soul from sin, 
and secures heaven. 

There is a kind of faith — so called 
among men, but not often so called in the 



88 FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 

Bible — a faith which coldly assents to the 
facts revealed in the Bible, but seems to 
see not the bearing of those facts, and 
cares not for their application to one's 
own duty or regard ; — this kind of faith 
stands utterly over against the faith of our 
text. It looks on the things believed as if 
they were not, and feels no more interest 
in the admitted truth than if it were 
known to be the fiction of a dream. — 
Strange faith this indeed ! The fact 
that men can believe the gospel, and yet 
live and feel as if they believed it net, is a 
moral mystery — a part of the deep myste- 
ry of sin. It is a fact which we should 
never believe if we had not seen it and felt 
it. Whether this mystery is to be :olved 
by showing that such faith does not take 
hold of the real things^ of the gospel, I shall 
not stop to inquire. Suffice it now to say 
that this is not the faith required in the gos- 
pel. It is not the faith spoken of in th 3 text. 
This faith is said to work. And truly. It 
is instinct with living energy. It never 



FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 



89 



leave? the soul unmoved — the life, unaf- 
fected, And the beauty and value of our 
text lie in the fact that it describes, in a 
word, and yet most perfectly, the grand 
secret of the mighty energy of gospel 
faith. It works by love. 

Suppose you believe the revealed fact 
that the Man of Calvary "bore our sins in 
his own body on the tree," and your soul 
is filled with love of such a spirit as his. 
The deep fountains of feeling in your 
heart will break up, — will they not ? Sup- 
pose you believe that He bore all those 
agonies meekly and joyfully, in anticipa- 
tion of the joy set before him in saving 
your soul and other souls from ruin ; and 
you love the pure, God-like benevolence 
of such a deed so much that your heart is 
moved with unwonted emotion and 
strange surprise, as you contemplate it: — 
can such faith, working thus by love, be 
altogether powerless ? Can you believe 
and love too, and yet be as though you be- 
lieved not ? 



90 FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 

Again : Suppose you believe the Sa- 
vior's promise, " My grace shall be suffi- 
cient for thee ;" — you believe that He has 
" put underneath you his everlasting arms " 
for " grace to help in every time of need ;" 
and then you love his name : you are 
charmed with all his beauty and you feel 
your soul drawn sweetly to his very 
bosom by the melting tenderness and 
kindness of his Spirit — do you not believe 
that you could trust Him ? Could you 
possibly distrust ? Would it be possible 
for you to disbelieve his promises, and feel 
yourself forlornly cast away from his 
footstool ? 

Or could you grope far aw T ay in dark- 
ness, as if there were no light, or stand 
despairingly aloof from offered grace as 
if God had in awful justice left you to 
work out your own salvation, and find 
your way to his face and favor if you can? 
O no. You would clasp your Savior's 
feet, like her of old, and bathe them with 
your tears of gratitude and love, and you 



FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 91 

would trust Him. You would say, — ■ 
" Lord, I believe ; help thou my unbelief." 

And such faith would work. It w r ould 
constrain your very soul to live for Hirn 
whose beauties charm you and whose 
word you make your trust. 

Christian reader, try it. Go to the 
Savior's feet, and there believe and love. 
Pour out your heart like water before the 
Lord, in penitence and confession first, 
and then in gratitude and praise. See 
all that Jesus is ; then you will believe 
and love too ; and then you can not fail 
to know the blessedness of being "chang- 
ed into the same image from glory to 
glory, as by the spirit of the Lord." 



CHAPTER XVI, 

FAITH AND WORKS. 

4 'Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead, be- 
ing alone." — James 2: 17. 

| HE meaning of this passage Is that 
faith, if it have not works, is use- 
less, really good for nothing. It is 
of no avail towards the salvation of the 
soul. See the connection. " What doth 
it profit, my brethren, though a man say 
he have faith, and have not works? Can 
faith save him?" This is the point: Will 
his faith save him ? No. 

Or take the rest of the verse, which is 
an illustration of this point. A brother,. 
or sister is naked and destitute of daily 
food, and you send him off with good pro- 
fessions and good wishes, but none of the 
needful things; "what doth it profit?" 



FAITH AND WORKS. 93 

Will such blessings feed him, or clothe 
him? No. So faith without works is 
worthless in respect to the great object of 
saving the soul from either sin or hell. 

Of course it does not save a man from sin; 
for by the very supposition, his faith brings 
forth no works of holiness, no fruits unto 
righteousness. The man lives as he al- 
ways lived. 

But why may it not save him from hell? 
Why may not this believer " hold Christ 
to his word" — "He that believeth shall 
be saved?' 

Ans. 1. The promise of Christ was nev- 
er made to such a faith. " If thou be- 
lievest with all thy heart," is the descrip- 
tion given ; and also, " with the heart man 
believeth unto righteousness." The faith 
of the gospel takes Christ for what He is 
and as He is offered, and trusts Him for 
both pardon and holiness. It implies that 
the believer acts as if he believed. 

2. Such faith shows itself to be no gos- 
pel faith at all; but rather ', base hijpoc- 



4 



# 



94 FAITH AND WORKS. 

risy, or cool insult to the gospel and its 
Author. 

It is surely hypocrisy to profess to be- 
lieve what is not really believed at all. 
Such a faith of course can produce no 
works. 

But suppose you believe the facts of the 
gospel, but your heart and life are not 
thereby in the least affected. What do 
your profession and your conduct say to 
your Maker — what to your Savior ? This. 
" Lord I believe that Thou hast given me 
existence and every blessing, but my life 
shall not acknowledge it. I believe that 
I owe Thee every thing — I will give Thee 
nothing." 

" Thou suffering Savior, I believe that 
Thou art the Christ, the Savior of the 
world, and a Savior offered to me, but I 
will not have Thee as such. I believe 
that Thou hast a righteous claim to my 
heart and life, but I will give Thee 
neither. I believe Thou art altogether 
lovely, but I will never love Thee. I 



FAITH AND WORKS. 95 

believe it was Thy dying desire to save 
my soul from perdition, but in spite of 
Thy dying love and offered life, my soul 
shall perish." 

Tell me, reader, is not this cool insult 
to the gospel and to its Author ? And do 
you believe God will take you to heaven 
for this? If not, then such a faith, being 
thus without works, is dead. 

3. Such faith is utterly abominable to 
God and to Jesus Christ. Who does not 
see this ? The times of former ignorance 
God might wink at, but the heaven-pro- 
voking sin of those that know God and 
yet by works deny Him must be the loath- 
ing of Infinite Purity. This sin lifts up 
its hard front before God and admits 
every truth, but plants itself on a flat re- 
fusal of all the requisite homage, love, and 
service. If this is not rebellion, what is? 
If this is not daring Jehovah's power and 
vengeance, what is? If this does not 
grieve his heart of love, and exhaust his 
long-suffering, past endurance, what can? 



l>0 FAITH AND WORKS. 

4. Faith without works, fails utterly of 
answering the great ends of gospel faith, 
namely, to sanctify the soul and fit it for 
heaven. 

Christ reveals Himself as a Savior " to 
save his people from their sins." He ex- 
pects that faith will " work by love," and 
purify the heart, and "overcome the 
world." True faith in its legitimate influ- 
ence will and must do this. This Christ 
desires. He wants his people "to be- 
hold as in a glass his glories, and thus be 
changed into the same image from glory 
to glory." And having thus walked by 
faith and loved Him though unseen, they 
are prepared to hail the day when they 
shall "see Him as He is." 

But faith without works does not even 
begin to mold the soul into the image of 
Christ and heaven. No. It hardens the 
heart and kills all its moral sensibilities, 
for it accustoms the mind to see Christ's 
beauty and his claims, and resist both. 
This is the spirit of the damned. Faith 



FAITH AND WORKS. 97 

without works nurtures this spirit. What 
wonder, then, that it should shut the soul 
from heaven, and send it to its " own 
place ?" 

Such is all faith which is without works. 
Professed Christian, think of thine ! Does 
it " work by love," and constrain your 
very soul to renounce sin with utter loath- 
ing, and follow hard after Christ ? Would 
to God it were always thus ! I can not 
repress the grief and anguish of my soul 
as I think how much professed faith in the 
church is a solemn mockery of God, a base 
and cruel insult of his Son. Reader, 

WHAT IS THINE ? 



CHAPTER XVII. ' 

SUSTAINING GRACE THROUGH FAITH, 

"Who are kept by the power of God through 
faith unto salvation." 1 Peter : 1 : 5. 

*HE reader will recollect with plea- 
sure and and profit that these are 
the words of Peter. Peter, the 
same who was once so self-confident and 
of course so weak ; the same w r ho once 
stumbled so grievously, but Christ prayed 
for him so that his faith failed not utterly 
— this man is spared and strengthened of 
God to bear his testimony to this glorious 
truth, that Christians may be "kept by 
the power of God through faith unto sal- 
vation." Ah, he had had experience. 
This truth became to him in his latter 
days a blessed reality. He learned to 



SUSTAINING GRACE THROUGH FAITH. 99 

know the arm that upholds, as he had also 
known most bitterly the absence of its 
aid. He had also known the faith 
through which this sustaining grace is 
made effectual. No wonder then that his 
views are so clear, and his language so 
precise and perfect. 

In this passage as in some others of the 
divine book of winders, every word 
seems emphatic — yes, more than emphatic 
—freighted with truth more precious than 
gold of Ophir. 

" Kept." Let the christian reader pause 
upon this word. God's people are kept. 
They are kept as in a walled town, (so 
the original word means,) so that no harm 
can reach them. They are kept as the 
shepherd keeps his flock from the storms, 
or from ferocious wolves. They are kept 
as a strong man keeps his family and his 
treasures in his castle. Yes, God has 
walled the Christian in, so that under di- 
vine protection and in the exercise of faith, 
no spiritual foe can overpower him. Or 



100 SUSTAINING GRACE 

to express the idea in the language of an 
eminent saint ; " The name of the Lord 
is a strong tower ; the righteous runneth 
into it and is safe." " Truly God is a ref- 
uge for us, a very present help in trouble." 

And now, Christian reader, have you 
ever had conflicts ? Have you ever seen 
foes? And has your heart quailed in ap- 
prehension of danger ? Then let me show 
you the castle. The name of the Lord is 
a strong tower. By the power of God 
you may be kept, and no assault of Satan 
or of Satan's legions can destroy you, or 
need alarm you. 

But you are kept " by the power of 
God" Let not this be overlooked. The 
power that gives security and victory is 
not of vour own arm. No. That walled 
tower is the name of the Lord. It is his 
arm around his people that sustains them 
and repels their foes. It is his look of 
love that makes them strong in the Lord. 

And you are kept " through faith" Let 
it not be supposed that you have nothing 



THROUGH FAITH. 101 

to do, no agency to exert in this being 
preserved through the field of battle unto 
final salvation. Far otherwise. — The pow- 
er of God which keeps you is available only 
through faith. And this is not an arbi- 
trary but a perfectly rational and naturally 
indispensable means of accomplishing the 
end. For, be it remembered, the great 
thing to be feared and resisted is sin, and 
your own sin. That is, the danger is that 
you yourself will fall under temptation, 
forget God, lose sight of Christ, and let 
worldly and selfish considerations gain 
the ascendency over your heart. How 
shall the threatened evil be averted 
and your heart be preserved ? God deals 
with you as if you were a rational, moral 
being. He expects to save you, if at all, 
by means of truth presented to your mind 
and so believed by you as to exert its 
natural and legitimate influence upon the 
heart. That is to say, you are to be 
saved from sinning, through faith. Now 
it so happens that the things revealed in 



102 SUSTAINING GRACE 

the gospel concerning God, Christ, the 
way of salvation, yourself and your rela- 
tions to God, are precisely such as are 
adapted to make you hate and loathe sin, 
and cleave with your whole soul unto God, 
The thing therefore which you need, is to 
believe these things — to hold them before 
your mind, and clasp them to your bosom as 
realities, so that you may feel their renew- 
ing power. " Beholding as in a glass the 
glory of Jesus, your Lord, you will be 
changed into the same image from 
glory to glory as by the Spirit of the 
Lord." 

The Christian reader doubtless knows 
something of this in his experience, even 
though he may never have studied its 
philosophy. Perhaps in some favored 
seasons the truth respecting Jesus has 
been so vivid and clear to your mind, and 
has seemed so like a reality to you that 
you could not think of any, even of the 
least sin, without actual shuddering. It 
seemed that you would rather die a thou- 



THROUGH FAITH. 



103 



sand deaths than even parley with a 
temptation to the least sin. Then you 
believed, and proved the efficacy of gospel 
faith. Then you were " kept by the 
power of God through faith." For though 
the influence of truth is so natural, yet so 
mighty are the repellencies, so strong the 
counter influences that nothing effectual 
can ever result except through the Spirit 
of God. 

Hence the necessity of both the means 
and the glorious Agent. Truth believed 
is the one — the Spirit of God the other. 
So the Bible ; " kept by the power of God 
through faith." And the Christian may 
thus be kept " unto salvation" He is 
made sure of final victory. The salvation 
spoken of is ready to be revealed in the 
last time. God will at last bring him 
forth from the conflict and from the scenes 
of battle, washed and made white, fitted 
for the mansions of the blessed. 

And now who would know the way of 
victory over the world and sin ? Who 



104 SUSTAINING GRACE THROUGH FAITH. 

thirsts to secure the blessing ? He that 
hath ears to hear let him hear. The se- 
cret lies in these words, " Kept by the 
power of God through faith unto salva- 
tion." 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

ABIDING IX CHRIST, 

" Abide in me and I in you." — John 15. a 4. 

^T^HE relation between Christ and 
{ i his people is neither mysterious 
^J^ nor mystical : but it is marvelous, 
peculiar, and most precious. Infinite 
mischief comes of involving this subject 
in mysticism. It is in itself plain enough to 
be understood by all who have had expe- 
perience of what it means. There is 
nothing in it or about it which accords 
not entirely with the great laws of our 
mental and spiritual being. 

And yet the relation is truly marvel- 
ous. It is a matter of wonder, great and 
eternal, that Christ should condescend so 
low and unite Himself so intimately with 



106 ABIDING IN CHRIST. 

polluted beings. And it always seems 
marvelously strange to the Christian that 
one so vile as himself should share the 
love of a being so infinitely pure as Jesus. 

But what is this relation ? The text 
says " abide in me." The Christian then 
should be in Christ. Let the reader 
dwell on this singular expression. I call 
it singular, for where else do we find it 
existing ? The parent loves his child, and 
does every thing he can do for its good ; 
the relation between them is in many res- 
pects pre-eminently strong and precious ; 
but who ever speaks of the parent as be- 
ing in the child ? Neither can this lan- 
guage be used of that most intimate and 
endearing of all human relations, which 
Christ so often employs to express his re- 
lation to his Church. There is, in short, 
no such relation among mortals as that 
which exists between Christ and those 
who love Him. 

There is then peculiar emphasis in the 
expression, " in Christ." It implies, 



ABIDING IN CHRIST. 107 

1. Being in his interests. The Chris- 
tian, united to Christ, is heart and soul 
in the interests of his Savior. He is dead 
to other and adverse interests, and alive 
to none but those of his Lord. Enough 
for himself that Jesus reigns, and that his 
will is done on earth and in heaven. 
Not reluctantly, but with more pleasure 
than he ever felt in any other cause, does 
he throw his soul into the cause of Jesus 
and identify himself with it so perfectly 
that he would know nothing else save Je- 
sus Christ and him crucified. So attractive 
to him is the Savior's cause, and withal so 
meet and right does it seem to give his 
very all to it that he wonders how him- 
self or others can ever love any thing else- 
Christian reader, do you know what this 
is ? Do you feel thus to-day ? 

2. Being in Christ implies being in his 
service. If you are in Christ, you are 
serving him with all your heart and all 
your might. Perfectly preposterous is 
the very idea of being in Christ to get his 



108 ABIDING IN CHRIST. 

favor and his heaven, and at the same 
time being out of Him entirely as to doing 
any thing which He requires. The Bible 
recognizes no such love as this. " If ye 
love me," says Christ, * keep my com- 
mandments." And surely you will. 
Nothing is more certain than that if you 
love Christ, you will delight to do his 
commandments. Your whole soul will 
cry out within you, "Lord, what wilt 
thou have me to do ?" 

3. Being in Christ implies being in Him 
by faith ; and by this I mean being in a 
trusting state of mind so that you depend 
on Christ continually for upholding grace. 
Then so depending on Christ by simple 
faith in his promises, he does uphold you, 
and you are in Him because thus upheld. 
His Spirit dwells within you. The char- 
acter of Christ is present to your mind's 
eye, and the sense of it is weighty and 
sweet within your soul, so that it sways, 
softens, melts, transforms. The union of 
faith brings Christ near, infinitely near. 



ABIDING IN CHRIST. 



109 



No language can adequately describe the 
energy and blessedness of this union. 
You love to trust, and Christ loves to be 
trusted. You love to receive and Christ 
loves to give. It is a union of giving and 
receiving ; of love reciprocated ; of con- 
fiding on your part, and helping on his. 
You lie in his arms and he bears you up 
and along. You say, " Lord I believe;" 
and Jesus smiles with most ineffable kind- 
ness as if the highest wish of his heart 
were gratified when a lost soul will trust 
his word and grace. 

Christian reader, is this language to 
you unmeaning and strange 1 Is the 
thing now described, foreign from your 
experience ? Then you have yet to learn 
Christ. 

4. Being in Christ implies being in his 
protection. The soul thus united to Christ 
is safe as Christ is. For this great and 
good Shepherd would sooner be Himself 
torn in pieces by the wolves than leave 
his little lambs to such a fate, while they 



110 ABIDING IN CHRIST, 

crowd around Him for protection and really 
trust Him. Why not ? How was it in 
fact when the case came to trial in the 
hour of terrible conflict, and some one 
must die ? Did Christ give up the lambs 
of his fold, or Himself? So would He do 
again, if need be, for the protection of 
his trusting people. But no other " need 
be" can occur. Christ now proclaims of 
Himself, "I that speak in righteousness, 
mighty to save." Protection, then, to all 
those who are in Him, is sure and perfect. 

5. Being in Christ is being in the num- 
ber of his redeemed ones. For all such 
He died ; and his death is availing to 
them because they believe in Him. The 
pardon is granted ; the blood is accepted ; 
the ransom is paid ; the condemnation re- 
pealed finally and forever. 

6. Being in Christ is being within the 
scope of his intercessions, For all such,, 
Christ prays, and with most prevailing 
prayer. How precious is that specimen 
of this intercession which Christ so kind- 



ABIDING IN CHRIST. Ill 

ly left us on record, How grateful the 
fact that in the hour of his own might- 
iest conflict, his heart did not forget his 
people, but seemed if possible more en- 
grossed for their good than ever. All, 
therefore, who are ki Christ, may safely 
lay themselves down in trust upon that 
sustaining grace which Christ's interces- 
sion procures. 

" Abide in me, and I in you." The 
counterpart of this text promises that 
Christ will abide in all those who them- 
selves abide in Him. So he will, forever, 
and without fail. He lives within them. 
His Spirit makes their heart his temple. 
His presence surrounds them ; invests 
them ; and controls their moral being. 

It implies his love ; for how can Christ 
dwell with a soul which He cannot love ? 
It implies communion. Nay rather, this 
is the very thing asserted. 

The Bible employs various modes of 
illustrating this peculiar union. It is 
sometimes a feast. Christ knocks; you 



112 ABIDING IN CHRIST. 

open the door, and He comes in and sups 
with you and you with Him. Or Christ 
is the vine and you are the branches. 
While .you abide in the vine, its vital juices 
flow into your soul naturally and abundant- 
ly, and your spiritual strength is sustained. 
Again, Christ says, " because I live, ye 
shall live also." As if the vital energies 
of our spiritual being w T ere really identi- 
fied with his, so far forth that while He 
lives and can, He will sustain us. And 
so it is. Such a union, how admirable — 
how glorious ! 

And does the Christian reader thirst 
for its blessings ? He may have them all, 
to-day, henceforward, and forever. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

LOVE TO ENEMIES. 

1 * Love your enemies." — Matt. 5 : 44. 

FT^HIS precept is one of the peculiar 
{ f glories of the gospel. It belongs 
w^ to no other system of morals. 
Search the records of Pagan Philosophy 
— it is not there. Go to the depths of 
ancient wisdom — it is not there. Ascend 
to the heights of the good morals, (so 
called) of civilized and christianized soci- 
ety, and it is not there. Explore the 
principles of the natural heart, and it is 
not there. 

But in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we 
have it fully unfolded both by precept 
and example. Here we have it, a new 
lesson for every convert to learn. You 



114 LOVE TO ENEMIES. 

can not live long in a world like this with- 
out occasion for its practice. If God suf- 
fers you to pass along through the first 
months or years of your spiritual course 
without enemies, you may thank his kind 
providence. He knows how to " temper 
the wind to the shorn lamb." But God 
will doubtless put you in a school where 
you may carry your spiritual education 
on to perfection. Think it not strange 
therefore, if this should be given you 
among your more advanced lessons. You 
may expect it. 

What does the precept mean ? What 
does it not, and what does it enjoin ? 

I answer, 1. Not that we should love 
our enemies with complacency; for if 
their characters are bad, this is wrong ; 
and if our hearts are right, it is impossi- 
ble. 2. Not that we should approve their 
conduct ; for if it be wrong, we neither 
can, nor ought to approve it. 3. Not 
that we should be wholly insensible un- 
der the wrongs we experience ; for the 



LOVE TO ENEMIES. 115 

constitution which God has given us for- 
bids it by making it naturally impossible. 
God asks us to control, not to eradicate 
the constitutional principles of our being. 
He can give us grace to rise above the 
suffering which wrong inflicts ; and for 
this we will bless his name. 4. Not that 
we should in all cases bear the injuries 
done us in our person, reputation, prop- 
erty, &c., with no effort to prevent, alle- 
viate, or remove them. For thus should 
we sometimes surrender ourselves to the 
mercy, or rather to the malice of the 
wicked, to our own real injury, and with 
no good to others. Yet be it never for- 
gotten that the gospel law in regard to 
personal injuries requires us, at least, usu- 
ally, to repel by meekly enduring ; and 
to retaliate only by rendering good for 
evil. 5. Not that we should tamely 
suffer the interests of the communi- 
ty to be sacrificed. The law of lov- 
ing our enemies can not require that 
we should cease to love our friends, 



116 



LOVE TO ENEMIES. 



and the great interests of the whole 
community. 

But the precept does enjoin. 1. The 
love of benevolence towards our enemies; 
It requires us to seek their best good most 
sincerely and earnestly. 2. Also, that 
we should keep our minds free from all 
prejudice, and judge as favorabl) r of their 
motives and conduct as the circumstan- 
ces of the case will possibly allow. 3. 
That we should be happy when w T e can 
put a favorable construction upon their 
conduct, and grieved w r hen w T e cannot. 
4. That when greatly wronged, we should 
cherish pity rather than indignation ; that 
we should weep and pray over their de- 
pravity, blindness, or prejudice, rather 
than give way to resentment, contempt, 
or any unkindness. 5. That we should 
estimate as low as possible the injuries 
done to ourselves, and be careful never 
to exaggerate them. 6. That unless the 
manifest sacrifice of a higher good forbid 
it, we should meekly bear the injury, and 



LOVE TO ENEMIES. 117 

leave our defense with God, assured that 
He will take all needful care of all that He 
deems worth defending. 7. That we 
should never take vengeance on our ene- 
mies, remembering w T ho hath said, " Ven- 
geance is mine ; I will repay." 8. That 
we should return only good for evil ; ac- 
cording to that sweet law of love ; " If 
thine enemy hunger, feed him." 

Such, reader, is the gospel law of lov- 
ing our enemies. It is enforced by the 
command and example of our blessed 
Lord. Think of that example ; how full, 
how lovely, how precious ! How does 
its aspect of meek forbearance and quench- 
less love look forth, like the smile of God, 
upon the strifes and heart-burnings of a 
warring world! " When he was reviled, 
he reviled not again." While the men 
of his nation Were plotting his death, " he 
beheld the city and wept over it." While 
they drove the nails through his hands, 
he cried, " Father, forgive them, for they 

know not what they do." 

5* 



118 LOVE TO ENEMIES. 

Do you admire this spirit? Then love 
and cherish it. Let it kindle and barn 
unquenched on the altar of your he'art. 
It will shed the light of heaven through 
all your soul as it did in the soul of Jesus. 
It will diffuse the serene calm of peace 
unutterable. No man can then set on 
you to hurt you. His very attempt will 
call into exercise those affections which 
will fill your soul with heaven. The 
Spirit of God will be at home in your 
heart. How much soever men, even pro- 
fessedly Christian men, may cast out your 
name as evil, and exclude you from their 
sympathies and charities, you are sure of 
the communion of the Father and of the 
Son and of the Holy Ghost. Our Father 
above knows when and where to meet 
his children with his favor. " If ye be re- 
proached for the name of Christ, happy 
are ye ; for the Spirit of glory and of God 
resteth upon you." 

Do you doubt the genuineness of your 
spiritual exercises? Love and pray for 



LOVE TO ENEMIES. 119 

your enemies — let your very soul go forth 
in most tender regard and earnest well- 
wishing, and fervent prayer for their good, 
and God will give you the witness of his 
Spirit, such a.? you need not question. 
These exercises are not selfishness under 
any, even of its most subtle forms. 

Do you thirst for solid happiness, hap- 
piness of such a kind as the migh test men 
cannot wrest away ? Here you have it. 
Love your enemies; and nothing can by 
any means harm you. Love your ene- 
mies ; and your joy no man taketh from 
you. It is substantially as sure as the 
joys of heaven. 



CHAPTER XX. 

STABILITY OF HEART. 

" God, my heart is fixed ; I will sing and give 
praise."— Ps. 108 : 1. 

O said and sung the sweet Psalmist 
of old, and thus he led the devotions 
of the thousands of Israel, pouring 
forth the fullness of his soul and giving 
utterance to his settled purpose of heart 
to trust and praise Jehovah alone. Let 
others, thought he, trust in an arm of 
flesh: my trust is in the name of the 
Lord. Let others go to seek help from 
gods of wood and of stone, or from any 
more mysterious things of their own vain 
imagining: "I will praise thee, O Lord, 
among the people; I will sing praises unto 
thee among the nations." Let men of 



STABILITY OF HEART. 1!&1 

the world chase their senseless vanities, 
vacillating forever among the delusive ob- 
jects of their trust, or between their all 
and God ; my heart is fixed, I seek not 
their gold or pomp or power — for God is 
mine. "I will sirig and give praise." — 
God is my refuge and strength — a very 
present help in trouble. I have made 
him my portion. I seek all my good in 
Him. My mind is now settled. I have 
chosen God. My soul rests down on 
Him. For me it is enough that He is 
mine. 

So, reader, let it be with thee. Let 
thy soul part company forever with ev- 
ery earthly love and earthly helper, and 
settle down upon God alone. Turn with 
loathing from the enchanting attractions 
of things below ; bid them away from 
your heart and your eye forever, and look 
to God. Cease to fluctuate between these 
tempting objects of earthly affection, and 
that High and Holy One. O, cease, I 
say, for why should you both grieve and 



122 STABILITY OF IIE.1RT. 

insult Jehovah by saying in your daily 
action that a toy on earth is worth more 
than his favor in heaven, or that some 
bauble of an hour is more precious than 
his offered crown of immortality. Then 
let the proud, and the 'covetous, and the 
sensual, have their gods and all the re- 
ward they give ; but let your soul be fixed 
on another portion. Let others praise 
the shining emptiness, the showy nothing 
which selfish men love and seek ; but let 
your soul praise the Lord alone. Make 
Him your God. Repose your heart in 
Him as your Infinite Father. Let there 
penetrate through all your moral being, 
the choice, — the accepting of Him as your 
portion, your trust, your almighty friend, 
your all. 

So felt the pious monarch of Israel, — - 
and with how much reason ! How wise 
the choice ! How noble and right thi3 
fixed and sublime purpose ! For his God 
had built the heavens. On earth, he rul- 
ed over all, and could cast down the lofty 



STABILITY OF HEART. 123 

from their thrones — could " sustain or 
sink the distant poles." And he had 
shown himself mighty to save his friends 
and crush his foes. David from his youth 
had known Jehovah, his friend, his trust, 
his Savior. And on such a God, should 
not his soul hejixed ? 

He had also read and seen other devel- 
opments of Jehovah's character, and he 
doubtless apprehended it as in itself, glo- 
rious, lovely, great, good, perfect, all-at- 
tractive, enough to command his soul 
away from a ] l created good. Is it strange 
then, that he should break out ; " O God, 
my heart is fixed ; I will sing and give 
praise ?" 

Then why not we, much more — we 
who have seen Jesus ! we who have read 
his story, and stood amazed at his con- 
descension ; — we w r ho have been over- 
whelmed and melted before his cross. 
Of all this, David had seen a little in 
dim prophetic vision; yet compared with 
what we see, how little ! O, had he 



124 STABILITY OF HEART. 

known all we know ; had his eye seen 
as we may see them, the milder, hea- 
ven-beaming glories of his greater Son, 
how would his harp have caught the 
strain of angels, and poured its numbers 
full and long! How would his powers of 
song have been fixed on Jesus, as if he 
could never speak or sing of any thing else! 
With what emphasis of a bursting heart, 
would he have said ; " O Jesus, now my 
heart is fixed; unto thee will I sing arid 
give praise — to thee — to thee alone and 
forever. Such love as thine has chained 
my heart to thee; it may not, shall not, 
must not wander more. 

But reader, where art thou? Is thy 
heart in this thing? Does thy soul burn 
within thee with quenchless aspirations 
after Christ? Does it break forth in glow- 
ing praises? Is it fixed, fixed as if bound 
with ten thousand cords that can never 
be sundered? Where are thy thoughts, 
and what are the objects of thy seeking? 
Whither tend the aspirations of thy 



STABILITY OF HEART. 125 

heart? towards God and this blessed Sa- 
vior; or downwards towards earthly 
things? Will you pause, just here, long 
enough to settle this question, — long 
enough to bring your soul to the touch- 
stone of the Psalmist's spirit, and know 
whether you do truly sympathize with 
Him or not ? For know thou, most as- 
suredly, that heaven is for those whose 
hearts are thus fixed and preparing, and 
for none others. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

MANY DECEIVED. 

" Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, 
have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy 
name have cast out devils'? and in thy name 
done many wonderful works ! And then will 
I profess unto them, I never knew you : depart 
from me ye that work iniquity." — Matt. 7: 22, 
23. 

^jutTIHE great fact revealed here from 
\ # the lips of Christ, is not merely 
iJ& that many shall fail of heaven, but 
that many of those who expected to go there, 
shall fail — being bidden to depart as 
workers of iniquity. Such a declara- 
tion from the great Judge Himself, 
were enough, surely, to attract atten- 
tion, and awaken solicitude in every 



MANY DECEIVED, 127 

heart that cherishes a hope of heaven, 
Is it a well attested fact that many of this 
class shall certainly be disappointed ? 
Does the declaration come from one who 
knows what men are — from one who un- 
derstands the principles on which the 
final decision shall be made ? Has the 
great Judge Himself said so? Then He 
meant to warn the church to some pur- 
pose, while the warning could reach and 
save the unhappy victims of delusion. 
His heart of love was pained to agony in 
view of the myriads, gone, going, and to 
go in the broad road to death, with the 
cherished hope of heaven. He saw that 
then, as ever since, and now, a multitude 
professed religion without possessing it. 
The hypocritical pretender, he abhorred ; 
— the self-deceived, he pitied ; and there- 
fore, for the good of both, He uttered 
this plain and pungent truth; — "Many 
in that day shall say, Lord, Lord, whom 
1 must bid depart, for I never knew 
them." 



12S MANY DECEIVED, x 

Nor let this great fact seem to the 
reader, strange. To-day compare the 
mass of Christians with the Bible standard 
of Christian character, and the truth in 
the text would be manifest enough, if 
Christ had never said it. 

1. See how little the gospel has done 
for a multitude of professors to mold their 
hearts, and shape their lives. Do they 
breathe its spirit of heaven-born love, and 
good-will to man ? Have they that "char- 
ity," so graphically painted by St. Paul, 
1 Cor. 13 ? Are they dead to the world, 
dead to covetousness, envy, ambition, 
selfishness ; and all alive to God — to 
piety — to Christ's kingdom — to hu- 
man well-being ? From the abundance 
of their heart does their mouth speak, and 
speaking, show that the love of Christ 
reigns sweetly within, and brings every 
thought into captivity to itself? Reader, 
look upon thyself, and ask how it is at home. 

And ask we for the life also — the living 
development of the inner man in action ? 



MANY DECEIVED. 129 

And what are a multitude of professed 
Christians doing — what for God — for 
Christ — for the progress of holiness — for 
the conversion of sinners — for the high, 
eternal good of man ? What, to deny 
themselves, subdue their appetites, to slay 
their lusts, to " live soberly, righteously, 
and godly in this evil world?" Where 
are the men of prayer, the men of bright 
and burning example, the men whose 
lives speak forth for God, and testify to 
the change which the gospel has wrought? 
There are such — but such are not all. 
Take these away, and there are many 
left. These are the " many " of whom 
Christ speaks in the text. Reader, of this 
many, art thou one ? 

Whatever else on this subject may be 
dark or doubtful, it is certain that the gos- 
pel, where it really works, does greatly 
change both the heart and the life. It is 
also certain that its fruit is not so like the 
natural fruit of depravity and selfishness, 
that it cannot be distinguished. And it is 



130 MANY DECEIVED. 

just as certain as the word of God can make 
it, that this gospel change must occur and 
this fruit of love and holiness must appear 
on earth, or the soul never sees heaven. 

2. See how averse many who profess 
religion are to self-examination, and how 
little they know of themselves. 

They hear sermons on the subject* 
and apply them most carefully — to their 
neighbors. On the eve of the Lord's sup- 
per, conscience presses them to self-exam- 
ination ; but the task is hasty, superficial, 
fruitless. They rarely mark the workings 
of their own minds. They do not ask 
themselves for the ruling motives of their 
daily conduct. They are strangers to 
their own hearts. Is it marvelous that 
they should go to hell " with a lie in their 
right hand?" 

3. See how commonly , when they attempt 
to question their own supposed piety, they 
judge themselves by false standards. 

One asks only for joy. If he enjoys 
himself, all is well. Another counts and 



MANY DECEIVED. 131 

measures his prayers, and if they seem to 
amount to the requisite evidence, he is 
satisfied. A third knows that his name 
stands fair on the records of the church? 
an heir of the "covenanted mercy." — 
This suffices for him. And many, very 
many go to the seventh chapter of Ro- 
mans, and find a conflict described there, 
in which sin is victorious, and brings the 
soul " into captivity." Assuming that 
this is Christian experience, and knowing 
it to be their own, they feel safe enough of 
heaven. 

Alas ! alas ! how many ways has Satan 
to do his work. And none more effectu- 
al than the perversion of the Bible. With 
all ease and certainty is the work of ruin 
done by adopting a false standard of 
Christian character, and wresting the 
Bible for its support. 

Reader, we are going to the bar of Christ, 
You will not forget the fact that many, 
many who expected heaven will then be 
bidden to depart from Christ, forever lost! 




CHAPTER XXII. 

HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 

: Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be 
made like unto his brethren." — Heb. 2 : 17. 

* AS the reader been wont, like Paul, 

to " count all things but loss for 
the excellency of the knowledge 
of Christ Jesus ?" And like Him have you 
solemnly determined to " know nothing 
but Jesus Christ and Him crucified? 5 ' 
Then you are certain to feel a thrilling 
interest in every development of that 
blessed character; and under the teach- 
ings of the Divine Spirit, you will doubt- 
less learn of Christ both rapidly and right- 
ly. But there are many, professedly in 
the school of Christ, whose views of Him 
still remain exceedingly dim and vague, 



HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 133 

and whose progress is dull, if not doubt- 
ful. In the hope that the latter class may 
be greatly benefitted, and the former real- 
ly so, this subject is now taken up. I 
will introduce it by suggesting two con- 
siderations ; one, pertaining to what 
Christ is, and the other to a mode of ap- 
prehending his character. 

1. Christ is none the less really and 
perfectly a man, because his human na- 
ture is united with the Divine, and none 
the less really Divine, because the 
God dwelt in human flesh. The union 
is indeed perfectly mysterious ; yet the 
Bible teaches fully enough that in this 
union there is no loss or relinquishment of 
any of the essential qualities of either the 
man or the God. 

2. Our conceptions of complex objects 
are often greatly assisted by contemplat- 
ing their component parts separately. 
Thus we may contemplate Jesus Christ, 
first as truly man, and then as really God. 
In the former view, we need not suppose 

6 



134 HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 

Him man only, but we will suppose Him 
to be man really and perfectly. And 
so in our contemplation of his divine na- 
ture. 

Christ, then, on earth was really man. 
In the light of this great truth, we may 
profitably contemplate the following facts 

1. He obeyed the divine lam perfectly. 
He did the very thing in this respect 
which we are required to do. We have 
then in Him a full development of what 
perfect obedience to God's law is. We 
see also how lovely a character entire 
obedience to God's law produces. O 
how lovely! How like heaven would 
this world be, if men were once to obey 
God's law as Christ did ! 

2. Christ left an example for us. This 
example He left us as man. An angel's 
example made known ever so fully would 
profit us comparatively little — his circum- 
stances are so unlike ours. But here is 
a man — a real man ; suffering, yet pa- 
tient ; tried, yet through faith and prayer 



HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 135 

sustained ; — tempted, and that too, "in all 
points like as we are," yet by the word of 
God, the sword of the Spirit, victorious in 
every assault. Yes, there is the man, 
Christ Jesus, weary at noon-tide by the 
well, yet toiling on in his Master's work; 
bereft of friends, and pouring out his sym- 
pathies — the tribute of a common human- 
ity — yet sinning not by one repining 
thought. That is the man, Christ Jesus. 
His example is left for me, and, reader, for 
you. Do not imagine that it lies above 
the sphere of humanity, that so you may 
disburden your conscience of all obliga- 
tion to follow, and even attain it. Rather 
let this example lie in your view just 
where He left it," w T ho suffered for us, 
leaving us an example that we should fol- 
low his steps."— 1 Pet. 2: 21. 

3. He voluntarily endured for us the 
wrath of God and the agonies of the cross. 
Yes, the man, Christ, bore all this. It 
pleased the Father to bruise Him, and to 
hide from Him his face. In the hour of 



136 HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 

most piercing torture, and of thickest hor- 
rors, the man, our brother, cried aloud, 
" My God, my God, why hast thou forsak- 
en me?" And all this, the man, Christ 
Jesus, of his own will, consented to suffer. 
True, in the deep agonies of anticipation, 
the throes of human nature are seen; for He 
cries "If it be possible, let this cup pass from 
me," but then in sweet resignation, He 
adds, " Father, not my will, but thine be 
done." Still He stands a voluntary victim. 

And is that sufferer, a man, a fellow- 
being, one of our own species, a sympa- 
thizing friend, a gracious benefactor 1 — 
Yes, and He threw Himself between our 
guilty souls, and God's avenging sword, 
and took the blow Himself. " He bore our 
griefs and carried our sorrows." 

4. God, the infinite Father, loved and ap- 
proved the spirit which the Savior mani- 
fested throughout this scene. We might 
also say that God, the Father, loved his 
eternal, co-equal Son for his part in com- 
ing down into mysterious but self-denying, 



HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 137 

self-emptying union with the man, Jesus, 
It is true that the Father loved both. The 
whole transaction was a scene of God-like 
benevolence. We can scarcely conceive 
how the heart of God, the Father, 
flowed forth in complacency and love 
towards the spirit then and there mani- 
fested. God will certainly show that He 
esteems and loves that spirit. He will 
make his approbation of it so plain that 
the universe shall see it. 

5. God will infinitely reward the man, 
Christ Jesus, for his benevolent sufferings 
endured for the salvation of his fellow- 
beings. God will give Him to see of the 
travail of his soul, so that He shall be 
satisfied. The joy set before Him, He 
shall surely have. The covenant is that 
He shall have a seed to serve Him, a 
multitude that no man can number, who 
shall wash their robes, and make them 
white in his blood. These are the re- 
ward of all his pains. They are his breth- 
ren, plucked from ruin, and raised along 



138 HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 

with Him in his exaltation in union with 
the eternal Son "to sit down with Him, on 
his throne," and be "joint heirs" with Him 
of God, and of his eternal glories. Wonder- 
ful! a world of wonders — and all w r onders 
of love: all right, yet gracious towards the 
suffering Savior, but all, all of grace unmer- 
ited towards us. That we should be raised 
with Jesus to inherit God — to have Him 
our eternal portion, is grace that wants 
more than language to describe it. 

Well, there is one consoling thought 
under this overwhelming weight of glory. 
It is that Christ shall wear the crown, and 
we his people be the gems that sparkle in 
it, not for our glory but for his. It is 
that Christ and God shall be the theme of 
that song, and w r e will raise and swell it 
long and loud before the universe of cre- 
ated minds, so that they all shall know 
w r hat love and grace have done. 

6. As man, Christ has perfect sympathy 
with his people. This is not the love that 
angels may have for us; nor such as God 



HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 139 

bears to us ; but it is real sympathy. — 
" Having Himself suffered, being tempted, 
He is able to succor them that are tempt- 
ed." He knows how man feels under the 
infirmities and trials of this mortal state. 
Reader, you have your little portion of 
trials: perhaps you deem it large and 
heavy, and look around you for sympathy. 
Now if your sufferings and trials are 
brought on you by your sins, Christ can feel 
compassion for you : if they are of that 
class which come upon you as man, a 
partaker of humanity, in a world of temp- 
tation, then Christ has perfect sympathy 
With you; for He has felt them all. And 
as if to annihilate for ever your unbelief, 
He consented to experience all these 
temptations, and endure all these sorrows, 
so that you might know assuredly that 
He understands them, and can feel for 
you as any other man could feel for you 
who had passed through the same scenes 
of anguish or trial as yourself. What 
inimitable tenderness is there in this mode 



140 HUMAN NATURE OF CHEISPF 

of rebuking our unbelief! Christ seems: 
to say, " banish your doubts of me, and 
know that my heart can and does sympa- 
thize with you; forsee,Ihave been through 
that very pathway of temptation, toil, or 
anguish, myself. Reader, can you dis- 
credit such testimony ? Will not at least 
your heart give its assent ? 

And this is the man, Christ Jesus. His 
sympathies are like those of man for his 
fellow-man. He is a brother — elder to 
be sure — " the first-born among many 
brethren " — first in dignity, first in power? 
yea, far indeed, very far, the first — yet 
still none the less a brother- — none the 
less full of tender, condescending sympa- 
thy. O ! we will love and trust ! 

7. The reader may contemplate the 
' exaltation to which human nature is raised 
in the person of Christ. That one man 
of our race, how infinitely exalted I How 
the mind falters in the grasp of a thought 
so grand ! How we stand amazed at the 
mysterious plan of God in thus taking 



HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 141 

hold not of angels, but of lost, degraded 
man, to lift him up into fellowship with 
Himself! 

8. Connected wdth this is the glory to 
which Christ will raise his people as his 
brethren. But here I know not what to 
say. The Bible has said a little, but its 
language seems to express almost too 
much for even infinite love and condescen- 
sion to do. It speaks of our being " joint 
heirs with Christ " of God Himself, and of 
our " sitting down with Christ on his 
throne, even as He overcame, and is set 
down with his Father on his throne." 
And it says also — wdiat is most obviously 
true — that it doth not yet appear what 
we shall be ; but that when He shall ap- 
pear, we shall be like Him : for we shall 
see Him as He is." 

Now, reader, let us say — this is enough. 
Enough it must be to be like Christ, and 
be for ever with Him, and see Him as He 
is. And will He own us as his brethren, 
then and there? Oh! is it possible that 
6* 



142 HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 

He can and will ! And shall I meanly, 
and wickedly disown and dishonor Him 
here? Let me sink down at his feet 
— yes, now — and pour out my heart in 
tears of grief, and agony, and shame. — 
Alas I have sinned ! I would be forgiven 
for this sin— but infinitely more would I 
be so renewed and so kept by his grace as 
never to dishonor and disown Him more. 
So help me Jesus. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST. 

"Thomcis said unto Him, my Lord and nay God." 
—John 20: 28. 

(TT^HIS passage teaches us that Christ's 
\ / disciples were taught by Himself 
wi* and his Spirit to regard Jesus not 
only as man but also as God. It was a 
blessed moment in the life of Thomas 
when his unbelief vanished away, and his 
soul settled back into its wonted confi- 
dence in Jesus, or rather seemed to rush 
forth with augmented ardor, faith, and 
love, to fall at the feet of his Lord and. 
his God. There seems to have been in 
his mind a peculiarly fresh apprehension 
of Christ in his divine nature. And no 
wonder this view of his Lord should melt 



144 DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST. 

his soul. It is to all believers an exhaust- 
less source of confidence and joy. When I 
contemplate Christ as truly God I see, 

I. That He has power enough to accom- 
plish all his work. The resources of God 
are absolutely boundless. They can never 
fail. They can never fall short in ef- 
ficiency for any designed result. — More 
particularly in the divine nature of Christ 
I see, 

1. The infinite merit of his atonement. 
And here, we Deed not assume that the 
God suffered on the cross, or even mirac- 
ulously sustained the man Jesus, so that 
He could and did suffer infinitely. The 
Father does not ask infinite sufferings in 
order to make an unlimited atonement. 
In his view, the value of the atonement 
does not turn on the amount of pain en- 
dured; for benevolence does not demand 
pain for its own sake, or as a good in it- 
self, and much less, for malicious gratifi- 
cation. No such thing. God requires 
an atonement only because He must sup- 



BIVIXE NATURE OF CHRIST. 



145 



port his throne, and for this end must show 
his abhorrence of sin, and determination 
to punish it. This He could show only 
by inflicting pain somewhere. In his suf- 
fering Son, He has shown it, and shown 
it perfectly. For, ask the angels on high 
what they thought when they saw that 
person, the God and the man Christ Jesus, 
in the agonies of death. Ask them what 
impression was made on them when Jesus 
rose and took his seat at the right hand of 
the Father with the prints of the nails 
still fresh in his crucified hands and feet, 
and the marks of the thorns still visible 
on his insulted brow. O then they knew 
that " it pleased the Father to bruise Him, 
and to put Him to grief," because He 
" bore our griefs" and stood in our stead. 
And if God spared not his own Son, they 
see that He will not spare the sinner, that 
his soul abhors sin, and that his throne is 
firm and safe forever. 

They rejoice in such an atonement. 
So do I. I know it is perfect. It an- 



146 DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST. 

swers every demand which the great in- 
terests of government can make. It 
shows God to be just, while yet He justi- 
fies the sinner. It opens wide the door for 
infinite benevolence to pardon and to save. 

2. Again, I see in Clmstfs divine na- 
ture, one qualification for a perfect Medi- 
ator. In the man, Christ Jesus, I see that 
we have perfect sympathy. He comes 
down to us to know our griefs, and feel 
Himself our trials. Then He will be in- 
terested for us, and will do all He can 
in our behalf while He stands before the 
throne. 

But has He power to prevail ? Can He 
gain access and have influence at the cen- 
tral court of the universe, before the King 
of the highest heavens? O yes ; for He is 
the King's Son. Himself is God, of equal 
power and glory with the Father, and has 
his seat at the right hand of the Eternal 
One. 

And have I such a Mediator ? Then 
indeed I may " come boldly to the throne 



DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST. 147 

of grace to obtain mercy and find grace 
for seasonable help." I have nothing to 
fear and every thing to hope. The 
Mighty One of the universe is my friend 
and advocate. What then, can I want? 

3. From Christ's divine nature I derive 
another precious truth ; Jesus can now be 
ever and always present with each, and 
with all of his people. 

This were a dark world if we could not 
see Jesus. True enough, we should be 
orphans, if Christ had not made provisions 
for revealing Himself to us through the 
Comforter. But He has kindly done this. 
How wonderfully did He anticipate our 
wants ! Now, He can be wherever two 
or three are gathered in his name ; yes, 
wherever there is one soul that seeks his 
face. And while I rejoice in his presence, 
not less blessed than if I were leaning, 
like the "beloved disciple," on his bosom, 
I now have the additional joy of knowing 
that a thousand times ten thousand other 
saints on earth, may be enjoying the very 



148 DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST. 

same presence, feasting on the same smiles 
of love, and holding precious communion 
with the same blessed, soul-sustaining 
Spirit of Jesus. The sweetness of such a 
thought is like heaven. 

4. In view of the divine nature of Christ, 
I see that He must have power enough to 
save Ids people from all sin. 

It is to my mind but partial, I might 
almost say, poor consolation if pardon is 
all I can have from an offered Savior. I 
want infinitely more than this — I want de- 
liverance from sin. I want to love my 
Savior with all my heart, and to honor 
Him in all my life. I want to be so drawn, 
so kept, so molded and so melted, that the 
spirit of heaven shall breathe through all 
my soul, and the spirit of sin and selfish- 
ness never pollute it again, no more at all, 
forever. My soul longs to honor Christ. 
I would never be satisfied except I am do- 
ing the utmost I can to please Him and 
praise Him, and make his glories known 
on earth and in heaven. These are solid 



DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST, 149 

wants. Nothing will supply them but the 
very blessing sought. 

And do I ask too much ? Does it savor 
of ingratitude for pardon and for the hope 
of being pure in heaven, that I ask for real 
holiness now with unutterable longing 
and with an importunity that will not 
take denial ? By no means. It is because 
I would be grateful for pardon and a little 
salvation that I beseech my Lord to make 
his work in my soul perfect. I can not 
bear to dishonor Him again. ! I can 
not endure that one thought or feeling of 
my heart should ever again displease 
Jesus. Why should 1 1 

Do I ask too much for Jesus to give ? 
Is his power adequate, or not, to save me 
from all sin ? Can He bless me by turning 
me from all iniquity ? 

Here I turn with joy and peace to the 
great truth that Christ is God. For in it 
I find an assurance that all my wants may 
be supplied. Do temptations from with- 
out surround me and put my soul in peril ? 



150 DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST. 

Are the world and the devil bent on my 
ruin ? I may look to Jesus. If Satan de- 
sires to have me, He can save. If the 
world ensnare, He can, with every tempt- 
ation, provide a way of escape ; for He is 
Lord of all. 

Or do temptations from within allure 
me ? Yes, they do ; and I want some all- 
controlling interest that shall absorb the 
powers of my being and use them up in 
the love and service of God so that they 
can not be perverted to sin and selfish- 
ness. I need Jesus so present with my 
soul, so abiding in it, that temptation to 
sin shall have no overcoming power. Let 
Jesus fill my soul with love to Himself, 
and the love of my own self will cease to 
rule. And He can do it. There is truth 
enough revealed in the gospel, and this 
truth is so adapted as to have power 
enough on any mind if it be only believed, 
apprehended fully, and made vivid and 
mighty on the soul by the Holy Spirit. 
According to the promise, (Ez. 36: 25 — 



DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST. 151 

27,) when God shall write his law T on your 
heart, and "put his Spirit within you, He 
will cause you to w T alk in his statutes, and 
and you shall keep his judgments and 
do them." " He will sprinkle clean water 
upon you, and ye shall be clean ; from 
all your filthiness and from all your idols 
will He cleanse you." 

Now none but God can do this ; and 
God can do it. Jesus is God. He there- 
fore can do it. The work is his, and He 
may he trusted to perform it. The influ- 
ence which sanctifies in part need only be 
augmented, and it will sanctify wholly. 
And who will suppose that the reason 
why Christ can give no more, is lack of 
power, or of resources ? This were to 
make Him no God. 

But perhaps you doubt his willingness. 
You suggest that the vital question is — 
Does Christ really desire to have his peo- 
ple freed from all sin while yet they live 
on earth t And is it, then, a question, 
whether Christ wants his people to be 



152 DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST. 

holy — wants them to love Himself with 
all their heart — wants them to refrain 
from insulting and abusing their Lord and 
destroying his cause — wants them, in 
short, to be a bride for Himself, adorned 
in all the beauties of holiness ? Is it in- 
deed doubtful whether Jesus loves holi- 
ness, and whether he is a God of love, 
and realty seeks the best good of his peo- 
ple ? Or does He know that some sin is 
better in the present state than too much 
holiness ? Then why did He not tell us 
so ? Why tell us that " This is the will 
of God, even your sanctification ;" and 
why pray Himself for it ; and why allure 
us upward and onward to it with all his 
might, by his " exceeding great and 
precious promises," and his own perfect 
example ? * * * But I for- 
bear. I must be allowed to believe that 
Jesus came to save His people from their 
sins, and that nothing in his people 
pleases Him at all except the holiness 
they have. Of course his work is to aug- 



DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST. 153 

ment this holiness to the utmost possible 
extent. Nothing that is possible is too 
much for us to seek and expect, or too 
much for Him to give with all his soul. 

Now this is gospel. I can understand 
why the angels should hail this as Heav- 
en's boon of " peace on earth and good 
will to men." It answers the description. 
It is worth something to be made pure 
from sin, and to have the victory over the 
world and temptation. It gives real 
peace. That God should give it to pol- 
luted rebels is the highest possible expres- 
sion of his good will to men. O, this is 
salvation that has a meaning. Now I 
can understand why it is said : " Unto you 
that believe He is precious." 

II. My views of Jesus as God, blend my 
love and attachment to Him as man, with 
adoration, reverence, and praise. 

Suppose I had been one of his disciples 
on earth. At first and for a time, I ap- 
prehend Him only as man. But I am 
ravished with the excellence of his char- 



154 DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST. 

acter. Every thing is so sweet, so right, 
so mild, condescending, pure, so like heav- 
en — I can but love Him with all my soul. 
At length He lets his robe hang more 
loosely, and finally it falls off, and I see, 
unveiled, the God. Still all is lovely as 
before ; but there is blended with it what- 
ever is great, majestic, God-like. I sink 
at his feet to adore and praise. I can find 
no words to express my joy that God is 
such a being as I behold in Jesus Christ. 
Now, at the same instant, I love Him as 
man, and I adore and worship Him as 
God. I love to give Him all my glory 
and cast my crown at his feet. No 
tongue can tell my joy and peace in such 
a Savior. 

Need I speak of the wonderful and yet 
blessed relation into which I am thus 
brought to the infinite God — the man Jesus 
being my elder brother, and yet the man, 
Jesus, eternally united with the great Je- 
hovah 1 And am I to be with Christ an 
heir, yea, a "joint heir" of the High and 



DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST. 155 

lofty One that inhabiteth eternity ? # 
* # Well, "it doth not ap- 
pear what we shall be." There will doubt- 
less be enough of glory for a worm of 
earth to sustain. # # # 

! if we could only praise Him enough ! 
III. Jesus, seen as God, appears in the 
aspect of the Lord of this lower creation. 

"All things were made by Him, and 
without Him was not any thing made that 
was made." " He is God over all, blessed 
forever." And how should my soul exult 
in this? Now I know that nothing can 
by any means reach me with harm be- 
yond his permission. Now I see Jesus, 
my best beloved, all round me, in the 
works and wonders of nature. It is He 
that wields the thunder and holds the tem- 
pest in his grasp. The sunshine is his 
smile, and the rain the dropping of his 
love. The fresh green of spring is his 
carpet of beauty, and the singing of birds 
is his choir of praise — a little effusion from 
his heart of love, and a little specimen of 



156 DIVIXE NATURE OF CHRIST. 

the sweet praises of heaven. So I may 
have other means of holding communion 
with Jesus, besides both his word and his 
precious, indwelling Spirit. He has taken 
me into his garden to study its beauties 
and the skill and love of its author, and 
then bids all the fragrance of its spices 
flow out to regale me. O ! this is Jesus! 

IV. Once more, viewing Jesus as God, 
I see Him to be also floral Governor, 

I know Him now as Lord. Who has 
not been struck with the fact that the 
Apostles almost invariably speak of Jesus 
by this title. They seem to have taken 
special pleasure in recognizing Him as 
their rightful King, and in yielding Him 
the whole homage of their hearts and 
lives. And well they might be happy to 
render to One so lovely, the homage 
which is due to the great God, and the 
great King of all. My moral nature de- 
mands that I should reverence and obey 
the King who made the universe and my- 
self, and who ever sustains and blesses all. 



DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST, 15T 

I am thankful for such a moral nature — 
for one that will demand this, and be satis- 
fied with nothing less. And may I not 
rejoice exceedingly that Jesus has coupled 
duty with delight ; yea, has blended them 
both in eternal harmony by revealing his 
love till my soul is ravished, and then by 
showing me that Himself is God, and that 
I may give Him the homage and obedience 
due from a creature to the Infinite Cre- 
ator 1 

Reader, when you have robbed Christ 
of his divinity, what gospel have you left ? 
But when on the contrary, you receive 
Him as both a perfect man and a perfect 
God, what a constellation of beauties and 
glories does the gospel become ! 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST. 

'This do in remembrance of me." — Luke 22: 19, 



F/f^H E scenes of personal communion 
\ V and fellowship between our Lord 
\2& and his disciples, were about to 
close. Precious had they been in the 
enjoyment, and most useful also they 
might be in the recollection. Other dis- 
ciples, in the long line of generations 
down to the end of time, might be blessed 
by the same memorial. 

Our Savior clearly forsaw that by the 
great mass of those for whom He died, 
his name would be forgotten. Was it 
strange that He should wish to be remem- 
bered by the few who loved Him ? Hence 
He gave them the ordinance of the Holy 



REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST. 159 

Supper, and bade them observe it in re- 
membrance of Him, till He should come 
again to take the last generation of his 
people to his upper, better home. 

Such is the command. It breathes no 
other spirit than that of love. Obedience, 
prompt, grateful and constant, seems so 
perfectly spontaneous, that I marvel how 
any Christian can ever feel or act other- 
wise. 

The pierced and bleeding form of the 
sufferer of Calvary is before me. My 
sins have pierced Him ; and yet his look 
is love, and not rebuke nor repulsion. 
He asks me if I will remember Him. He 
says, " This is my body which is given 
for you; this do in remembrance of me." 

Blessed Lord Jesus, we will remember 
thee as thou hast said. We can not for- 
get where we were, and what we were, 
when thou didst come to seek and save 
us. An eternal death of horrors was be- 
fore us. Then thou didst come to save. 
We can not forget the rescue. 



160 REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST. 

We will remember also, the love that 
moved Him to come and make the sacri- 
fice of blood and life for our salvation. It 
was such love as man had never seen — 
such as no mortal tongue can describe. 
It may not be forgotten. 

We will remember the design which 
Jesus had in view. It was no other than 
that of redeeming a world of sinners 
from sin to holiness. He meant to make 
salvation possible to all who might ever 
hear of its glad tidings. And He meant, 
in fact, to secure the salvation of a great 
multitude that no man can number, out 
of every kindred and tongue, and people 
and nation. Salvation, the salvation of 
the lost, was the great purpose which 
filled his soul and fired his heart, and bore 
Him through his agonies. And can we 
ever forget it? Shall we forget the 
world's Redeemer ? 

We will remember also the special de- 
sign which Jesus had in regard to us. Did 
He die for me, for my very self, so that I 



REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST. 161 

may have salvation? And what now 
does He want me to do ? I hear it from 
inspired lips. "He died for all that they 
which live should not henceforth live 
unto themselves, but unto Him who died 
for them." Ah, now I see, He asks me 
to remember that I am bought for Him. 
He wants me to aid in the great work of 
fulfilling his own plan of saving sinners. 
He kindly asks me to enter the field with 
Him, and be a laborer together with God 
and Christ and the Spirit, to save dying 
men from sin and hell. For this, in part, 
He gives me pardon. And I can not re- 
sist the call. I must obey. Jesus, I will 
remember thee. My heart and hand, my 
life, my all are thine. 

Let us remember also, the power of 
Jesus to save from sin. Jesus, the heaven- 
derived name — why should not the 
sweetest associations cluster around it, 
and every fresh mention of it be a fresh 
assurance that Jesus can save his people 
from their sins ? This is what we want. 



162 REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST. 

It were a small thing to be saved only 
from hell. My soul cries out for more, 
infinitely more than this. It longs to be 
so pure as to grieve my Savior no more, 
so pure that henceforth I may only honor 
Him and do his pleasure. And is this 
possible ? Is there truly " grace to help 
in every time of need," and strength that 
can "be made perfect" in my "weak- 
ness," and promises given, " exceeding 
great and precious, whereby we may be- 
come partakers of the divine nature, hav- 
ing overcome the corruption which is 
in the world through lust?" So the 
promises assert. So the name of Jesus 
leads me to expect. Then let me remem- 
ber this in all my scenes of toil and trial. 
Let it be my strength and victory in all 
my temptations. Jesus is mine, and He 
can save. 

A sinful world may forget its dying 
Lord, but how can we, who know his 
power, and his love ? They may repay 
his death with scorn ; but there are hearts 



REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST. 163 

in which his name and deeds of love 
shall be cherished in everlasting remem- 
brance. They who have seen his glory, 
and his beauty, and have felt the trans- 
forming energy of faith in his name, 
surely they will cherish his memory as 
if they could think of nothing else ; and 
they will love his name as if it had swal- 
lowed up into itself all that is lovely in 
earth or heaven. 

I said a sinful world might forget its 
dying Lord. Alas, some w T ho profess to 
love Him, seem to be and do no better 
than they. It is but too plain that they 
love father or mother, wife or children, 
houses or lands, honors or lusts, more 
than Jesus. They must have forgotten 
Him. Perhaps they never knew Him. 
Assuredly his beauty has faded from their 
view, and they remember Him no more. 

But there are those, blest Jesus, who 
do love thee, and whose remembrance of 
thee is rich with love and gratitude almost 
like heaven. They love to meet thee at 



164 REMEMBRANCE 03* CHRIST. 

thy table — to live with thee by day and 
night — to have thy name embalmed in 
their memory, and all its recollections 
fraught with peace and love. when 
shall their number, even on the earth, be 
a thousand times ten thousand, and thou- 
sands of thousands? 



CHAPTER XXV. 

OFFICES OF THE SPIRIT. 

" It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go 
not away, the Comforter will not come unto 
you ; but if I depart, I will send Him unto 
you."— John 16 : 7. 

^TIHE presence of Christ on earth 
\ / among his chosen friends must 
wit have been intensely interesting and 
rich in spiritual profit. We see in the 
history how they hung on his lips and 
caught his gracious words, such as never 
man spake ; how they leaned on his bo- 
som and were blessed by his sympathies ; 
how He loved his own that were in the 
world even to the end, and how they in 
turn, with broken, gushing heart, could 
say, " Lord, thou knowest that I love 

thee." We may conceive also how the 

7* 



166 OFFICES OF THE SPIRIT, 

new, or at least the more full development 
of the gospel fell on their ear — how they 
listened, astonished and joyful, to the 
doctrine of pardon to the believing, favor 
divine to the penitent, and salvation from 
sin, through God's Son and Spirit, to all 
who will come and receive it. Could any 
thing be more blessed than to hear the 
gospel from the lips of its great Author — 
than to receive pardon from the very 
hands of Him whose right it is to give it? 
Can any privilege or favor be greater 
than to receive spiritual blessings — peace 
hope, light, consolation — from the very 
person who could die to purchase and 
bestow them? 

Yes. "It is expedient for you that I 
go away , for if I go not away, the Com- 
forter will not come unto you ; but if I 
go away, I will send Him unto you." There 
is something better for the Christian here 
than the personal presence of Christ. 
Much as we should love that presence— and 
surely we should love it much, yea, ex- 



OFFICES OF THE SPIRIT. 167 

ceedingly — yet is there something better 
for us than even that. This richer bless- 
ing is the indwelling Spirit. 

But whyis this better for us than Christ's 
presence was to the primitive disciples? 

1. He teaches more and better. We 
would by no means disparage Christ. We 
do not. We give only his views on this 
point while we exalt the agency of the 
Spirit as a Teacher. " I have many 
things,* said He to his disciples, " to say 
unto you, but ye can not bear them now. 
Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth 
shall come, He will guide you into all 
truth." " He will show you things to 
come." " He shall receive of mine and 
shall show it unto you." In the depart- 
ment of teaching his disciples, Christ left 
many things undone. For some reasons, 
He could not do it all. The Spirit fol- 
lowed Him and did it. His peculiar 
agency taught more truth than Christ did, 
and taught it more effectually. So the 
subsequent history of the disciples shows. 



168 OFFICES OF THE SPlftIl\ 

And though special inspiration has 
ceased, this Spirit is a Teacher still. Still 
does He teach us all things, and bring all 
things to our remembrance. He still 
makes us love the truth ; enlightens by 
giving us the experience of its meaning 
and power, and divinely guides our under- 
standings in our researches* Blessed 
Teacher ! 

2. His sanctifying agency is more effi- 
cient. We need not labor to explain how 
or why. The Bible exalts the work of 
the Spirit as a Sanctifier. The history of 
the primitive church shows how rapid, 
efficient, pervading, and heavenly, this 
agency can be. No one can read this 
history and compare it with that of the 
disciples when under Christ before the 
Spirit came^ without observing the might- 
ier agency of sanctifying grace under the 
Spirit's dispensation. 

The words of Christ fell on the out- 
ward ear ; his example met the eye ; his 
persuasions in some degree, reached the 



OFFICES OF THE SPIRIT. 169 

heart, yet not like his who lives in the 
heart — who works " in us to will and to 
do of his own good pleasure.'' Not like 
his agency of w r hom it is said, " I will put 
my Spirit within you, and cause you to 
w r alk in my statutes." " Your body is 
the temple of the Holy Ghost w T hich is in 
you*" "Ye are the temple of the living 
God ; as God hath said, I will dwell in 
them and walk in them." The Deity within 
us — to purify our hearts! What can be 
more precious, more glorious, more awful ! 

3. The SpiriVs agency is omnipresent. 
Christ's personal presence was confined 
to a favored few 7 . So it must have been. 
But the Spirit dwells in the hearts of all 
his willing people. The multitude of those 
that believe, how great soever it may be, 
can not exhaust his ability to be present 
with them all — just as really and as 
sweetly and efficiently present, as Christ 
could be with one, or with the chosen 
three on the holy mount, or in the garden 
scene of anguish. 



170 OFFICES OF THE SPIRIT. 

Precious thought. I love to dwell on 
it. It adds to the joy of my com- 
munion with the Spirit to know that 
the same Spirit is pouring the same 
joys into the bosoms of ten thousand 
times ten thousand of his unworthy chil- 
dren, in many lands, and in every condi- 
tion where hearts that love are found. 
The fullness of this joy, which fills the 
heart with delight because others without 
number are sharing it, is like the bliss of 
heaven. This the disciples had not in 
the personal presence of Christ. We 
have it in the communion of the Spirit. 

Christian reader, is it true that w r e have 
a richer blessing offered us than Christ's 
own personal presence ? Have you ever 
seen and prized it, and thanked the Savior 
for it 1 And does the church know it ? 
Is she fully aware of it? Is she fully 
aware of the proffered presence of the 
Deity — the promised indwelling of her 
God in the hearts of her sons and daugh- 
ters? If, like some earthly prince, Christ 



OFFICES OF THE SPIRIT. 171 

were to pass through our land, how many 
churches assume that they would hail his 
coming, and rush forth to meet Him. 
Were He to come they would not know 
Him. For his Spirit does come, and they 
receive Him not. Perhaps they do not 
in form beseech "Him to depart out of 
their coasts," but they grieve Him till He 
goes! Alas! alas! When shall the in- 
dwelling presence and renewing power 
of the Spirit be prized and cherished as 
the richest gift of heaven ! 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

" Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not 
many days hence." — Acts. 1 : 5. 

fcHESE, as they were among the last, 
so were they among the best words 
ever uttered by Him whose lips 
were always full of grace and truth. 
They promised a great blessing soon to 
be bestowed upon the primitive church. 
And, what was this blessing ? To this 
point I now ask the reader's attention. 
Having investigated this, we may come 
intelligently to the questions, Is this bless- 
ing promised also to us? and if so, How 
may we obtain it ? To every Christian 
this whole subject is one of intense inter- 



BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 173 

est. May every Christian reader appre- 
ciate it. 

What blessings were promised to the 
primitive church in the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost? 

I answer, 1. Negatively; not merely,, 
nor chiefly, miraculous gifts. True, these 
were in their case included, for the obvious 
reason that then they were needed for 
particular use, as means of preaching the 
gospel. And especially they were needed 
to prove the presence and agency of the 
Holy Ghost. The world desired a sign. 
Christianity was to be established in the 
first instance by miracles. As Paul said, 
1 Cor. 14: 22 : " Tongues are for a sign, 
not to them that believe, but to them that 
believe not." 

But these were only temporary ap- 
pendages of the Spirit's baptism ; not the 
great, the chief thing; not the essential 
element. For, be it considered, the dis- 
ciples had miraculous power before, though 
somewhat less extensively. Again, Christ 



174 BAPTIS3I OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

taught them that these were comparative- 
ly of small consequence. Luke 10: 20: 
" In this rejoice not, that the spirits are 
subject unto you ; but rather rejoice, be- 
cause your names are written in heaven." 
So also Paul taught most abundantly. 
See 1 Cor. 12—14. The main drift of 
these three chapters, is to show that mi- 
raculous gifts were of little worth, com- 
pared with other gifts imparted by the 
Spirit. In his view, the great fruit of the 
Spirit is love ; and this he deemed above 
all price. This he held to be the true 
baptism of the Spirit, the greatest, best 
gift thereby conferred. Still farther, 
Christ taught much respecting what the 
Spirit should do. See John 14 — 16. 
Scarce any place, and no prominence is 
here given to miraculous gifts. The great 
work of the Spirit is to teach, reprove, 
comfort, and sanctify. But, finally, we 
have the testimony of history. We are 
permitted to study the subsequent lives of 
those who received the baptism of the 



BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 175 

Holy Ghost, and see what its fruits ac- 
tually were. And no man can do this 
candidly, without seeing something in- 
comparably greater, and infinitely better 
than the gift of tongues. It is perfectly 
incredible that the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost should have meant only or chiefly 
this. No, Christian reader, it promised 
another blessing than this, better far, 
and more enduring. 

2. This baptism was not the grace of 
conversion, or regeneration ; for the 
Apostles were converted some years be- 
fore. But God could make them yet far 
more holy, and for this was the Spirit 
given in holy baptisms. 

If now we ask what blessings were ac- 
tually and chiefly intended by the baptism 
of the Holy Ghost, we must seek the in- 
fallible answer from the Bible, and chiefly 
from prophetic descriptions of it, from 
Christ's representations, and from the his- 
tory of its effects in the lives of primitive 
Christians. 



176 BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

For prophetic descriptions of it the 
reader may consult Isa. 44 : 3 — 5, and 52 : 
14, and Ezek. 36 : 25—27. Christ's in- 
structions are found chiefly in John 14 — 
16 chapters, and John 4 : 10, 14, and 7 : 
37 — 39. If the reader will study these 
passages carefully, he will find very great 
stress laid upon the work of the Spirit as 
a teacher. " He shall teach you all 
things, and bring all things to your re- 
membrance." " He shall testify of Christ." 
" He shall glorify Christ," by revealing his 
truly glorious character to the mind and 
the heart of the believer. These passages 
also show that the Spirit shall reprove of 
sin, shall comfort the fearful, shall sanctify 
the heart, shall be a permanent, abundant, 
unfailing source of spiritual good. Read- 
er, can you conceive any thing more 
precious than rivers of living water, and 
these too within you — flowing forth from 
your own soul, to bless others also ? Do 
you ask for blessings more permanent 



BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 177 

than " a well of water springing up into 
everlasting life ?" 

Will my readers now turn with me for 
a moment to a short but precious chapter 
in the history of true religion ? We have 
it in the Acts of the Apostles. It is the 
history of the men who were baptized 
with the Holy Ghost. It will be remem- 
bered that at the time of their baptism, 
they were already Christians of a certain 
sort — that they had followed Christ with 
more or less of devotion, for some three 
years or more, and had apparently left all 
for his sake. Still they had many crude 
notions, great unbelief, and not a little 
fear of man. They were sanctified very 
partially. A mighty work remained to be 
wrought in their hearts. There is room 
for a change more striking than even that 
of their first conversion, and the Spirit of 
God can effect it. The Spirit comes. His 
sweet and mighty effusions are shed forth 
on them all. And what are they now ? 
Their hearts are filled with love — yes,JHled, 



178 BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

absolutely filled with love. This his- 
torian tells us often that they are of one 
accord, of one heart, and of one soul. See 
too what love they bear to Christ. Mark 
how they rejoice to be counted worthy to 
suffer shame for his name. See how, as 
on lightning's wing, they bear the story of 
his love to all nations. Note the love 
they manifest for a dying world. It would 
seem as if love had become their ruling 
passion ; and in some of its manifesta- 
tions, towards their Savior, each other, 
lost sinners, or their enemies, it were 
bursting forth in mighty, ceaseless cur- 
rents. 

And where now is their former love of 
the world? What do they care hence- 
forth for its favors or it frowns ? What, 
for its honors ? 0, they have laid them 
down with all joy at their Savior's feet, 
and have taken up his cross for their crown 
of glory. 

And how marvelously too have their 
fears vanished away. Where is he, — that 



BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 179 

one among them — who, a few days ago, 
quailed before a servant-maid, and through 
fear of ill-treatment, forsook his Master 
and absolutely took his oath that he did 
not know Him ? Yes, where is he ? He 
is brought before that very Council which 
struck such terror through his soul but 
yesterday. Summoning all the dignity 
and majesty of a Jewish Sanhedrim, they 
fiercely interrogate him, to know by what 
power he is acting. And does he quail 
now ? No. The historian tells us that 
Peter, " filled with the Holy Ghost," made 
his defence fearlessly, preached to them 
the gospel of Jesus boldly, confounded 
them utterly, and finally left them with 
this resistless appeal to their consciences : 
" Whether it be right in the sight of God, 
to hearken unto you more than unto God, 
judge ye. For we can not but speak the 
things which we have seen and heard." 
Acts 4:19, 20. Such is one feature of 
the change wrought in a soul " filled with 
the Holy Ghost," 



180 BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

Let it be noted also that this baptism 
of the Holy Ghost filled them with great 
spiritual joy. " They ate their meat with 
gladness." They rejoice under threats 
and torture, and under a nation's scorn : 
yea, even under the anguish of stripes and 
the peril of death. And is this nothing ? 

Let the reader mark also their " single- 
ness of heart." They are no longer strug- 
gling to serve both God and Mammon. 
The question is not with them as with so 
many in the Church to-day — How much 
may we love and seek the honor and the 
wealth of the world, and yet not lose 
heaven ? They have but one thing to do, 
and that is, to serve their Lord. This 
was the fruit of the Spirit's baptism. 

It can not escape the attentive reader's 
notice that they were now prepared to 
preach Christ with amazing power and 
unparalleled success. No man, not even 
malignant enemies, could resist the wis- 
dom and the power by which they spake. 
How sublime the spectacle of such power 



BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 181 

over mind ! And where lies the secret ? 
Not in their learning — not in their native 
talents — not in the glory of their name — 
not in the fact that their hearers sympa- 
thize with the subject — no, in none of these 
things ; but wholly in the fact that they 
are filled with the Holy Ghost. Their 
souls are glowing with love, and faith 
and truth. And God is with them. God 
is in them. Therefore is it that thev can 
preach with resistless power. O! when 
shall arise some other such whose burning 
lips shall preach the truth of Christ, and 
make the proudest, mightiest sinners trem- 
ble ? O, for a countless host! 

Once more, let the reader remark that 
these effects of the Spirit were abiding. 
It w r as not the meteor's flash, that broke a 
moment on the vision, and sunk in thicker 
darkness. It was rather a summer's sun, 
that set not till it set in death. Those 
Christians held on their way, like the just 
man whose path is as the rising light. It 
is a lovely comment on the promise, "The 



182 BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

water that I shall give him shall be in him 
a well of water, springing up into ever- 
lasting life ;" or that other, " Out of his 
belly shall flow rivers of living water." 
The history of what was done by the 
primitive Church proves conclusively that 
through the baptism of the Holy Ghost, 
they were sustained in a course of un- 
abated zeal, and faith, and love, and la- 
bor, as long as they lived. O, blessed 
agency ! 

Christian reader, have you not often 
sighed deeply over the fickleness of your 
best affections, the short duration of your 
holiest states? Oh! you need the origi- 
nal, the genuine baptism of the Holy 
Ghost. Ask yourself if this gift be not 
the very thing you need, and worth more 
to your soul than the Universe beside. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

" Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not 
many days hence." — Acts, 1 : 5. 

11 In the last day, that great day of the feast, 
Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man 
thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He 
that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath 
said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living 
water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, 
which they that believe on him should receive ; 
for the Holy Ghost was not yet given ; because 
that Jesus was not yet glorified.") John 7: 
37—39. 

" I indeed baptize you with water unto repent- 
ance : but He that cometh after me is mightier 
than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : 
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, 
and with fire."— Mat. 3 : 11. 

Vj*S this baptism of the Holy Spirit real- 
\ # ly promised to us — to all Christians in 
wik these latter days ? Presuming, that at 
least some of my readers are ready and 



1S4 BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GKOST. 

anxious to know the truth, the precious 
truth on this point, I hasten to suggest in 
proof that it is promised to us : 

1. The fact that this baptism of the 
Holy Spirit is the great promised blessing 
of the gospel dispensation. The reader 
may consult Isaiah 44 : 3-5, and 52 : 15, 
and Ezek. 36 : 25-27 : where we read 
that Christ shall sprinkle many nations, 
and where the sprinkling of clean water 
which' should really cleanse the soul is 
further explained by the language, " I will 
put my Spirit within you, and cause you 
to walk in my statutes," &c. 

Or the reader may consider the texts, 
and similar passages. As the characteris- 
tic feature of John's work was, that he 
baptized with water ; so was it of Christ's, 
that He baptized with the Holy Ghost. 
And Christ has shown that the blessing 
was to be given in its mighty effusions, 
after He should have been glorified. This 
was the best time. The truth which the 
Spirit was to employ came out pre-emi- 



BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 



185 



nently in Christ's life, death, and resurrec- 
tion. It was not developed before* 
Moreover, the Spirit was to be so given 
as would most honor Christ. When He 
ascended, He sent it down — the result of 
his mediation — the purchase of his blood. 
Thus Christ was honored. But the bless- 
ing belonged to the gospel dispensation. 
Of this dispensation it formed the pecu- 
liar glory. It therefore is promised with 
all its fullness to ourselves. 

2. The Holy Ghost was to supply the 
place of Christ 9 s presence ; and we may 
safely infer, not for his disciples only, but 
for all Christians, w T ith whom he prom- 
ised to be present, " alway, even to the 
end of the world." Christ makes his 
presence manifest now through the Holy 
Spirit. This Spirit, said Christ, " shall 
receive of mine and shall show it unto 
you." 

3. The special baptism of the Holy 
Ghost on the primitive Church was evi- 
dently designed to be the first fruits of 



186 BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

the gospel dispensation ; not the whole 
of it — not the least effusion of glorious 
blessings — but a sample, a specimen, an 
earnest of what the blessing always is> 
and of what God's people might hence- 
forth pray for, and through the prayer of 
faith, expect. It was given, then, to raise 
our faith and expectation; not to tantalize 
and mock them. Who can believe that 
God held out at the head of the present 
dispensation, that grand, soul-quickening 
display of the Holy Spirit's power, only 
to aw^aken unutterable longings, to be 
gratified nowhei'e again, short of Heaven? 
Who that is a father ever held out bread 
before a hungry child, but gave him only 
a stone ? 

4. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is 
only another name for the pre-eminently 
rich, and powerful effusions of the Spirit. 
Now the Spirit is promised in the New 
Testament, and by Christ Himself, as free- 
ly as any other blessing whatever. Those 
promises too, are made to us. Can any 



BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 187 

thing be more free, more full, more uni- 
versal ? Read Luke 11 : 9-13. See the 
image there drawn of the Infinite Father 
at his table, distributing the bread of life 
to his praying children. This bread is 
the Holy Spirit. And how is it promised? 
How is it given ? O ! dwell on the appeal 
to paternal tenderness, and bounty. Are 
you a parent, or a child ? Then you 
know how bread is given to a hungry 
suppliant. Did you ever give your child 
a stone, or a serpent, when his little hand 
was stretched out, imploringly, for bread ? 
Neither does God give you blank nothing, 
or the devil's agency, w T hen you ask Him 
for the Holy Ghost. Did you ever go on 
the principle of starvation with your 
child — giving him only food enough to 
protract a groaning existence ? And yet 
perhaps you expect this very thing from 
God. Possibly this is one of the doc- 
trines of your theology, that God really 
and wisely (!) too, designs to give his 
Spirit only in such scanty measures as 



1SS BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

shall leave the Christian to drag out a sort of 
Christian life more dead than alive, till at 
least near his dying hour! If such be 
your view, I beg you to read the Bible 
and believe it. 

5. The plan of salvation contemplates 
as its prime object, the sanctification of the 
Church ; and relies on the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit as the great efficient power for 
accomplishing the work. According to 
the Bible, Christ came " to save his people 
from their sins" — to " bless them by turn- 
ing them from their iniquities. " " He 
loved the Church and gave Himself for 
it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it, 
and present it to Himself a glorious 
Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or 
any such thing."— Eph. 5 : 25-27. And 
this work is to be done mainly by the 
Spirit's agency. Now the question is, 
are the promises of the Spirit made to 
me, and to you ? And the question is an- 
swered. There can remain no room for 
doubt. Does God love holiness ? Does 



BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 189 

Christ ? — and well enough, to give Him- 
self for his Church, that He might sancti- 
fy and cleanse it? And now, it being 
known that the Spirit of God is the effi- 
cient power, and that it is really promis- 
ed to some Christians ; and the whole 
question being, whether it is promised 
also, now, to all, and really accessible to 
all ; I trust there can be but one answer 
to the question. As much as God and 
Christ love to see us become holy, as 
much as they love to see accomplished 
that great end for which God gave his 
Son, and his Son gave his life — so much 
may I be assured, that they love to give 
this blessing, and when sought unto in 
faith, will give it, bountifully, every 
where, and always. Christian reader, let 
us lay down our doubts, and our unbelief, 
and take up a song of praise. And 
not that only ; but let us come up to 
our great Father's table, and " ask that 
we may receive, that our joy may be 
foil." 

8* 



190 BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

But do you say, how shall I obtain this 
blessing ? Go and ask for it. It was giv- 
en to primitive Christians in fulfillment 
of the promise, in answer to prayer and 
to faith. See John 7 : 38, 39, and Acts 1 ; 
14. Yet again, hunger and thirst after it. 
God gives not blessings where they are 
not wanted. To do so would be almost 
throwing them away. It would be de- 
parting from the great principles of his 
administration with free agents. Ask, 
then, with real hungering, if you would 
receive. 

And to do this, you must value and 
cherish the blessing more than life itself. 
It is worth more than your life — more 
than the whole universe besides. Some 
just estimate of its value you must have, 
before you will honor the Spirit, and 
gratefully receive his baptism. 

Another point let me press. You must 
sacrifice every thing else to get it. I mean 
now just as I have said. I mean not 
merely that you must be willing to do 



BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 191 

this — for if you stop there you will prob- 
ably deceive yourself, and lose every 
thing. But actually do it. Bring all you 
have, and all you love, and lay all down 
at Jesus' feet, and tell Him you give Him 
all for the baptism of the Holy Spirit* 
Then let Him give back to you as much 
of your earthly good as He pleases. Per- 
haps it would please Him that you should 
use the most of it for his service. But 
beware that you never again regard it as 
your own. No, nor your reputation 
either; nor your sensual pleasures of any 
sort. Give them all to Jesus, and cheer- 
fully say — Savior, give me henceforth of 
all these things, little or much as thou 
pleasest; only give me the full and per- 
petual baptism of the Holy Spirit. So is 
"the Kingdom of Heaven like unto a mer- 
chant-man seeking goodly pearls, who 
having found one of great price, went, 
and [actually] sold all that he had and 
bought it." Reader, you will remark, 
that Christ avers the Kingdom of Heaven 



192 



BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 



to be like this transaction. Are you 
willing to seek its chief blessing in this 
very way? Then you may have it. 
Otherwise, not. Giving half will not 
avail. 

Once more only. Feel assured that 
through the infinite goodness of God in 
Christ Jesus you may have this great 
blessing immediately, and keep it for ever. 
I beseech you to believe this, and believe 
it fully. Look with a humble and thank- 
ful spirit at the evidence on w 7 hich this 
truth rests. Then believe. You cannot 
get it without believing. You must not 
think to get it while your very unbelief 
insults God, as you come before his throne 
to pray for it. He that doubteth is like 
a wave of the sea. " Let not that man 
think that he shall receive any thing of 
the Lord." 

Reader, how will you justify the bar- 
renness and spiritual apathy which may 
have reigned long in your soul? With a 
table thus loaded with blessings before 



BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. 193 

you, and such a Father standing by it, 
with his hands running over, why are 
you starving almost to death ? Why are 
you a slave to any sin ? Why is not 
your path brilliant with light — your heart 
glowing with love, and strong in faith — 
your lusts, and the w^orld beneath your 
feet, and Jesus leading you on to higher 
knowledge and holier zeal, and to w r ork 
like his in his service 1 The strength of 
the gospel is before you. Gird it on, and 
victory is yours. 



CHAPTER XXVIIL 

TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

"He shall teach you all things." — John 14: 26. 

^TJHIS is said of "the Comforter, 
( > which is the Holy Ghost." But is 
wjk it really true in respect to us? 
Does not the promise in its ample mean- 
ing pertain to the primitive church only, 
and exclude us from the fullness of the 
blessings? In answer, I observe, that I 
hold it a safe rule by which to interpret 
the blessings of the gospel dispensation, 
that whenever we have deducted whatever 
is miraculous, the rest belongs to us and 
to the church in every age. 

The miraculous department of these 
blessings belongs undoubtedly to the age of 
miracles. So it should. We do not want 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 195 

it. But all the rest we do want. And 
God gives all the rest to us most freely. 
There is no monopoly of gospel blessings. 
It is no part of the divine policy to ex- 
haust them upon one age of the church, 
and leave other ages unavoidably to fam- 
ish in scantiness or starvation. 

According to this view, the prophetic 
teachings of the Spirit are not now to be 
expected. God will not show us things 
to come. There is no need that He 
should. Nor will He enlarge the volume 
of revealed truth. We need not expect 
an appendix to that perfect book. God 
has no more to add. 

Still it remains a glorious truth that the 
Spirit yet teaches, and in a most impor- 
tant sense teaches us "all things" It 
being the design of his work to convert 
and sanctify men, He teaches every thing 
that is requisite for these ends. Whatever 
we need to know for our comfort, quick- 
ening, usefulness, or sanctification, He is 
ready and able to teach us. 



196 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 



Again, it is plain that the Spirit now 
teaches at least as freely and as fully as 
Christ would if He were here with us in 
person. For Christ said, " it is expedient 
for you that I go away," so that the Com- 
forter may come. Now if Christ were 
here with us, the chief benefit which we 
could derive from his presence would be 
in his instructions. These w T ould be most 
precious. How we would gather round 
his feet and hang upon his lips ; how we 
would bring up to Him all our questions, 
and all our difficulties, and learn of Him 
what to do, and how we may please and 
honor Him in all our ways. But the 
Spirit will teach us more and better than 
Christ could if He were again in person 
among his people. Himself being judge, 
it is well for us that He should go away, 
and the Spirit of truth come. 

But on what subjects does the Spirit 
teach? And how does He teach? And 
how may his teachings be known ? And 
how may we obtain them ? To each of 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 197 

these great questions, a brief answer will 
be attempted in this and subsequent chap- 
ters. 

Of subjects taught by the Spirit I 
name, 

1. Prayer. So Paul seems to assert. 
The " Spirit helpeth our infirmities, for we 
know not what to pray for as we ought." 
Rom. 8 : 26. Hence the Spirit teaches us 
what w r e should pray for. He leads forth 
our minds to desire specific blessings. He 
knows most perfectly what we need, and 
therefore first prompts us to desire that 
thing, and then to pour forth our desires in 
prayer to God for it. Then, too, He 
helps our infirmities in manifold and 
precious ways. He suggests the promises 
on which our faith may take hold. He 
reveals God, an infinite Father — his 
throne all radiant with love and grace — 
and thus encourages us to come like 
needy children, and dare to trust, and 
dare to ask for heaven's bread of life. 
What Christian does not know that with 



198 TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

the Spirit's help, his heart flows forth in 
real, mighty prayer, grasps the very 
promise that applies, and finds it infinitely 
sweet to believe and trust — to ask and 
receive? Yes, every real Christian, taught 
of God, knows this. 

2. Truth. The promised Comforter is 
" the Spirit of truth." He teaches all 
truth. And here his peculiar province is 
to make us understand and fully appre- 
ciate what his written word contains. 
Happily for us, He knows the obstacles in 
our way and knows how to remove them. 
Our prejudice, our apathy, our selfishness, 
our bigotry, He can counteract, and can 
bring our minds into a meek, docile 
thirsting frame, in w r hich divine truth is 
like milk to new-born babes. Then with 
what amazing ease and delight the mind 
learns of God and of his precious revealed 
truth. Besides this, it can not be doubted 
that the Beino; w T ho gave us thinking 
minds, can lead forth these minds in 
search for truth, and guide our investiga- 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 199 

tions with divine light to results which 
otherwise we should never attain. 

3. Duty, When in the spirit of a will- 
ing child I go to my Father in heaven, 
and ask Him what He would have me do, 
or not do, I may expect his Spirit will 
teach me. This is what the Bible means 
by being " led by the Spirit." The wis- 
dom of this world is commonly too wise 
to understand this, but all those know it 
who' are taught of God. The monitions 
of the Spirit may come in most soft and 
gentle whispers, saying only, " this is the 
way" where my presence and love shall 
be with you — but those who have learned 
to commune with the Spirit, and to know 
his voice, shall be led in the right ways 
of the Lord. 

4. The Spirit teaches concerning Christ. 
The Bible makes this point specific and 
emphatic. Said Christ, " He shall testify 
of me." He shall glorify me ; for He 
shall receive of mine and shall show it 
unto you." It seems therefore to be the 



200 TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

peculiar province, as it doubtless is the 
delight of the Spirit, to show us Christ. 
Think how the Spirit loves the Son. Then 
conceive with what pleasure He takes of 
the things of Christ and shows them unto 
us. How He unfolds the meekness, the 
sweetness, the loveliness, and the glory 
of Christ's character, bringing every 
point before our minds in all that mild 
radiance which belongs peculiarly to his 
own manifestations ; and making our 
minds see Christ, and our hearts feel the 
power of his apprehended character, as 
if we had never known Him before. No 
wonder that under these views of the 
glory of the Lord, " we are changed into 
the same image from glory to glory as by 
the Spirit of the Lord." 

5. The Spirit teaches especially the 
gospel The plan of salvation through 
Christ, all its fullness, adaptation, power, 
every thing about it that w T e need to 
know in order to experience its full bless- 
ings, the Spirit came to teach. So said 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 201 

Paul, " We have received the Spirit 
which is of God, that we might know the 
things that are freely given us of God." 
(1 Cor. 2: 12.) Now the things that are 
freely, that is, graciously given us of 
God, what are they but those free gifts of 
his Son and his Spirit whereby we find 
free redemption from sin and deliverance 
from its power, and are brought back to 
be God's real children ? These things, 
then, the Spirit is given to make us know. 
How rich the blessing ! How competent 
the teacher ! How fraught with life, and 
peace, and purity, are his precious teach- 
ings ! That same gospel, which is as bar- 
ren as the wastes of death to many, be- 
comes, under the Spirit's teachings, all 
verdant with beauty, and fresh with life 
and glory. It is to the soul as if it were 
a new revelation. 

Christian reader, has the gospel in your 
eyes aught of beauty or glory? Does it 
ravish your soul with its charms? It 



202 TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

does, I know, if you are taught it by the 
Spirit of God. But if the gospel to you 
is dull or powerless, you may know that 
your great Teacher is gone. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

44 He shall teach you all things, and bring all 
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I 
have taught you." — John 14 : 26. 



■ .HE question, How does the Spirit 
teach ? is one of some practical use* 



f 

WJk Whatever we can really know about 
it is useful : all speculations on points be- 
yond our knowledge, may be wisely and 
well omitted. On this principle I shall 
forbear to inquire after the specific mode 
in which the Infinite Spirit reaches and 
affects our minds. I am content to leave 
that unknown until we can better under- 
stand how mind can ever act directly on 
mind, without the intervention of physi- 
cal organs. Yet our ignorance on such 
points need create no difficulty. For 



204 TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

who can believe that the Infinite Author 
of our minds has constructed them so 
that they are necessarily excluded from 
his own immediate and direct agency ? 

There are some points of accessible 
knowledge upon the general question, 
How does the Divine Spirit teach our 
minds 1 I therefore answer negatively. 

1. Not now as of old by voices or 
visions. This mode belonged to the primi- 
tive dispensation, and to the infant state 
of the human mind and of the church. 
It was wise when men needed revelations 
of new truth. For this end it is no longer 
needed, and the evidence of facts seems 
to prove that it is laid aside. 

2. The Spirit teaches not now by mere 
impulses. For impulses are not teaching. 
They neither suggest, nor illustrate, nor 
impress any truth. 

But following the light of the Bible, 
and of facts, we are probably safe in 
saying, positively, that the Spirit teaches, 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 205 

1. By prompting and holding the atten- 
tion of the mind. So " the Lord opened 
the heart of Lydia that she attended to 
the things spoken by Paul.'' And so in 
many ways the Spirit arrests and fixes 
the attention, and thus gets truth dis- 
tinctly before the mind. Then also the 
Spirit can quicken the mental powers, 
and awaken an interest in knowing the 
truth. 

2. By employing the laws of mental 
association, or suggestion. So much 
Christ teaches us. " He shall bring all 
things to your remembrance, whatsoever 
I have said unto you." So also the ex- 
perience of Christians testifies. They 
know that the Spirit suggests to their 
minds the promises or the precepts, and 
that too just when they need them. It 
is most interesting to observe that the 
Spirit does this in a most impressive and 
effective way. Just the right promise is 
always given. The truth suggested most 
perfectly fits our condition and our 

9 



206 TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

wants. He who suggests it knows not 
merely our temptations, but our attitude 
of mind, and capacity to be affected by 
any given truth or promise. Hence the 
perfect adaptation, and hence it so often 
seems as if the truth suggested by the 
Spirit were a new truth, never seen be- 
fore, so new are its relations, and so per- 
fectly and strikingly does it fit our case. 
I recently knew an individual fiercely as- 
saulted with temptation. Ere long the 
passage, "kept by the power of God 
through faith" came to the mind of that 
individual, and it was like the very arm 
of Jesus Himself. It brought salvation. 
It filled the soul with sweet confidence in 
Christ. It was the very thing, and the 
Spirit of God not only brought it be- 
fore the mind, but made its precious 
truth all bright and cheering as sun- 
beams, breaking suddenly from the dark- 
est night and the fiercest storm. And it 
seemed indeed as if that passage were a 
new page of the Bible. 



TEACHINGS OP THE SPIRIT. 207 

So thousands of God's people can tes- 
tify. They know that truth sometimes 
comes before their minds in new aspects, 
so touching, melting, transforming, quick- 
ening, that they are compelled to say — ■ 
the power that has wrought this is more 
than human. They may see in this the in- 
ward workings of Him " who shall teach 
you all things and bring all things to your 
remembrance." Eminently is this the case 
when the Spirit fulfills that promise of 
Christ, "He shall testify of me." Chris- 
tian reader, have you not known a man 
in Christ, in the course of your history, 
who seemed in his views of Christ to be 
be " caught up" — at least who had such 
views of the glory of Jesus, as no tongue 
can utter ; who saw such excellence and 
loveliness in Christ, that He sank down 
at those blessed feet, almost overwhelmed 
with irrepressible swellings of emotion, 
bathed in tears of mingling penitence 
and gratitude ; admiring, adoring, prais- 
ing ; and yet all the time feeling that a 



208 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 



thousand hearts and a thousand tongues 
would be utterly inadequate to feel or 
tell his manifest glories? 

There are those who have testimony 
to bear on this point, not very unlike 
that of St. Paul ; and they can ascribe it 
intelligently to no other chief cause ex- 
cept the agency of that Spirit of whom 
Christ said, " He shall glorify me, for He 
shall receive of mine and shall show it 
unto you." After such experience, they 
can understand this language, for Christ is 
in their eyes glorified indeed. They see 
glories ineffable, beaming in his counte- 
nance. That face wears an aspect com- 
bining such sweetness, meekness, gentle- 
ness, condescension, and yet so unutter- 
ably pure and holy, so blessed, that mor- 
tal language would fail in any attempt to 
describe it. It is somewhat as if the ra- 
diance of the noon-day sun were trans- 
formed into the radiance of love, and 
the intensity of a thousand such suns 
were condensed into one — and that, the 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 209 

face of the Lamb. And yet these glories 
have such a heavenly mildness, that you 
seem allured to gaze on them forever. 

3. The Spirit often employs external 
providences in aid of his work. 

When the Christian's heart is borne 
down by affliction, smarting under the 
rod, He administers the balm of consola- 
tion. He avails Himself of the impression 
already made by the chastening hand, 
and comes in to soften, to purify, as the 
case may be, to accomplish the very end . 
which He deems requisite for that Chris- 
tian's sanctification. And no doubt the 
chastisement is often sent as a prepara- 
tion for the Spirit's work. The clay is 
made soft for his plastic hand. Or in 
another figure, the iron of man's heart, 
comes out from the furnace of afflic- 
tion, to be molded by the Spirit into 
new forms of moral beauty and use in 
the Master's service. The Spirit of God 
can then effect the change. 



110 TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

And, Christian brother, is it not wise 
and safe for us to trust the teachings of 
the Spirit ? Is it not a matter of most 
devout and everlasting gratitude that 
Jesus has sent us such a Teacher ? Will 
you not put away sin, and put on the 
docile spirit of a little child, and hasten 
to his feet and open your heart to his 
teachings ? The treasures of gospel 
knowledge and the glories of gospel grace 
are in his gift, and no fountain of living 
waters ever gave forth its streams more 
freelv. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

" Satan himself is transformed into an angel of 
light."— 2 Cor. 11 : 14. 

V?F so, then his influences may resemble 
\ f those of the Holy Spirit of light, and 
%L* how can we distinguish the one 
from the other ? Every Christian reader 
will see that it must be to himself of in- 
finite moment, that he should be able to 
make this distinction, that he should know 
the work of the Holy Spirit of God by 
its appropriate tests, or marks, so as never 
to be misled by Satan. For, be it never 
forgotten, this is a world of temptation, 
and influences to evil are abroad all over 
it, and of every sort. Enough there are 
within us, and enough without us; some 



212 TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

from the external world, and some of a 
spiritual kind from the devil and his an- 
gels. So under both the Old and New 
Testament dispensations there were false 
prophets who taught false doctrines, and 
who seem to have been led by the great 
deceiver. But God then took special 
pains to hold up this fact in solemn warn- 
ing, and reveal the tests by which the 
spirit of darkness might be known. So 
now the Spirit of truth leaves not Him- 
self without witness. Tests there are 
by which his genuine influences may be 
ascertained. And what are they? 

I answer, not instinct. This may be a 
safe law T for the lower animals, but God 
never made it any law at all for things or 
beings of a moral character. Again, not 
impressions. The bare impression on any 
mind that this comes from the Spirit of 
God does not prove that it does. Satan 
may have told me that very thing. He is 
a liar of old. Nor, again, is the pleasur- 
able emotion produced on my mind, of 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 213 

course proof that the influence which 
caused it is from God. When Satan be- 
comes an angel of light, and touches 
some of the more refined springs of self- 
ish joy, there may be a gushing flood of 
pleasant emotion. That soul might sing 
itself away — to perdition. 

But there are substantial tests by which 
the Spirit's teachings may be known. I 
believe them to be mainly included under 
the following heads: 

1. The Spirit's teachings harmonize 
with God's word. For both have the 
same Author. Both have the same ob- 
ject. The divine Spirit now comes to 
make more clear and effective on our 
minds the very truth already revealed in 
the Bible. This first great principle ought 
to be thoroughly understood by every 
Christian. Then we shall see that the 
Bible is not only a book of instruction, 
but the great book, comprising all divine 
revelation — the sum total of all divine 
truth that we are to know of God on 
9* 



214 TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

this side Heaven. And in this view of 
the case, we have a great standard by 
which to try all spiritual influences of 
every sort. One question only is to be 
asked. Do they correspond with the book 
which we have from God? God's Spirit 
never teaches any thing in opposition to 
the revealed truth of the Bible. Satan 
does. Here is always a broad, an im- 
mensely wide difference. And, Christian 
reader, if you will search the Bible con- 
stantly with great diligence, and much 
prayer for the Spirit's aid, so that your 
very soul shall drink in its real senti- 
ments, and apprehend its genuine mean- 
ing, you need not be deceived by the 
father of lies. 

This test admits of being universally 
and easily applied. Suppose that in ex- 
treme trial you are perplexed, disappoint- 
ed, injured by bad men or good men, and 
some impulse within you says, "You do 
well to be angry ; now fret, rebel, cut 
your enemy and make Him smart for it. 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 215 

The cause of truth and justice demands 
it." But who is this prompter? Is he 
from above or from beneath? I answer, 
by his fruits you may know him. Com- 
pare his doctrines with the Bible. When 
the Spirit of God recalls the right truth 
to your remembrance, does it say fret, 
rebel, retaliate, make your enemy pay 
dearly for the sin of having troubled you? 
Are these precepts extracted from the 
sacred pages ? Are they found there 
along side of the doctrine, "Love vour 
enemies" — " Fret not thyself in any wise 
to do evil" — "forbearing and forgiving 
one another, if any man have a quarrel 
against any, even as Christ did, so do ye?" 
It is easy to see that this principle ap- 
plies in the same manner to the Spirit's 
teaching in regard to doctrinal truth. 
Here, too, the Bible is the text. New 
pretended revelations which depart from 
the Bible, are vain as the wind. If the 
reader will examine Deut. 13: 1 — 5, and 
1 John 4: 1 — 3, he will see this principle 



216 TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

developed in both the Old and the New 
Testament dispensations. If a man taught 
idolatry in Israel, no matter how many 
miracles he wrought, and how much in- 
spiration he claimed or seemed to have, 
the people must kill him without mercy, 
and hearken not to his lies. The discrep- 
ancy of his doctrine with God's known 
revealed truth, was enough to seal his 
doom against all possible testimony in his 
favor. So the apostle John taught the 
church not to believe every spirit, but to 
try the spirits whether they were of God, 
and gave this one great test,— Do they 
confess that Jesus Christ has come in the 
flesh? This cardinal doctrine of the 
primitive church was the great touch- 
stone. Let a man claim ever so much 
inspiration and prove it ever so plausi- 
bly, if his doctrine is not the Bible, his 
spirit is anti-Christ. 

2. The effects of the Spirit' s teaching 
correspond with the fruits of the Spirit 
as revealed in the Bible. Most fortu- 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 217 

nately the Bible has told us plainly 
what the fruits of the Spirit's work in 
the soul will always be. They are 
11 love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gen- 
tleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tem- 
perance." — Gal. 5 : 22. Hence all spir- 
itual influences may be known by their 
fruits. What sort of an effect do they 
have on the mind? Do they breathe 
over it the soft gales of heaven? Do 
they wake up the glowings of universal 
love — love even to my enemy? Do they 
melt my spirit into sweet sympathy with 
the blest spirit of Jesus? Then I have 
nothing to fear. I know that this is 
from the Spirit of God. The devil never 
made any man love his enemy. The 
devil never set himself to increase the 
amount of disinterested good-will among 
mankind. He never made war against 
the selfishness of man's heart. Of course 
the devil's imitations of the Spirit may 
always be detected by their fruits. Do 
they cherish ill-will to man, or pride 1 



218 TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

Do they particularly gratify myself, by 
subserving my own selfish ends? Do 
they chime in with the demands of 
of my lusts, and by much sophistry, and 
much distortion of the Bible, seem to 
prove from Holy Writ that I may rightly 
make a god of my belly, or an idol of 
my reputation ? Ah, such teachings bear 
the mark of their subtle, hellish author- 
ship. He knows his strong hold. And 
you, Christian, ought not to be ignorant 
of his devices. 

3. The previous state of our own minds 
may rightly aid us in distinguishing the 
works of the Spirit from all counterfeits. 
The principle on which this sentiment 
rests is no other than this. "If a son 
shall ask bread of any of you that is a 
father, will he give him a stone? or if 
he ask a fish, will he for a fish give 
him a serpent ?" " How much more 
shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy 
Spirit to them that ask Him." Now if I 
have been waiting humbly on God, hun- 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 



219 



gering for the Spirit, coming like a child 
and trusting in my Father for it, need I 
fear that He will send me a delusion or 
suffer the devil to ensnare me? Will He 
give me a serpent? I trow not. 

But if I have been in a selfish state of 
mind ; cherishing a proud complacency in 
my own knowledge of religion, or in my 
talents ; or if I have been listening to 
the demands of my sensual being, and am 
rather inviting some influence to defend 
me in their indulgence, then I may expect, 
not the Spirit of God, but the spirit of 
delusion. I am all naked to the shafts of 
the devil. I have opened the door and 
thrown away my armor, and the traitor 
within bids the foul spirit come on. No 
wonder now if he comes. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

11 And what agreement hath the temple of God 
with God with idols ! for ye are the temple of 
the living God ; as God hath said, I will dwell 
in them and walk in them, and I will be their 
God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, 
come out from among them, and be ye separate, 
saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean 
thing; and I will receive you." — 2 Cor. 6: 
16, 17. 

®F all possible inquiries respecting 
the Holy Spirit's agency, by far 
the most important to us is this ; 
How can we obtain it to enlighten and 
renew our own souls? Other inquiries 
may be pertinent and wise — this is indis- 
pensable. Knowledge on other points is 
valuable— -knowledge on this is particu- 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 



221 



ticularly, pre-eminently, supremely so. 
Reader, dost thou love holiness? Does 
thy soul pant for the image of God, and 
long inexpressibly for victory over sin ? 
Wouldest thou be taught of God ? " Then, 
1. Have no fellowship with sin. Fol- 
low the direction of our text, " Come out 
from among them and be ye separate, 
saith the Lord, and touch not the un- 
clean thing." It matters little what this 
unclean thing, in your case, may be. 
Whether it be a molten or a graven im- 
age — whether it be lust, or pride, or honor, 
or wealth — the assent of your mind to it 
is enough to repel the Holy Spirit. As 
certainly as the Spirit is pure, so certainly 
will cherished sin in your heart forbid his 
indwelling presence and his gracious 
teaching. This is beyond all question the 
doctrine of our text and the doctrine of 
sound sense on this subject. You will 
observe that the doctrine does not main- 
tain that the Spirit can not dwell with a 
soul still imperfect. It does not involve 



222 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 



the absurdity that our hearts must be per- 
fectly pure before the Spirit can dwell in 
them to make them pure. No. But it 
does maintain that the soul must volun- 
tarily renounce its sins, and all its sins, 
and by no means hope for concord in the 
same heart between Christ and Belial, or 
seek communion of light with darkness. 
God will not be the patron of sin. 

2. Keep a tender conscience. It was in- 
finitely kind in God to give us a moral 
sense, which might keenly and quickly 
admonish us of moral danger. In general 
we may regard its sudden responses as the 
oracle of God to the soul. Now you can 
drown this voice divine. You can hush 
its whispers. You can so resist its admo- 
nitions that it shall retire into some deep 
recess in your soul and lie hidden till an- 
other day shall w 7 ake up its restored and 
deathless energies. Any degree of abuse 
will vitiate the keenness and justness of 
its admonitions, and its gentle w r hispers 
are indignantly suppressed. 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 223 

Now be it never forgotten, this is your 
best friend. Therefore cherish his friend- 
ship ; walk softly; consult your conscience. 
An approving conscience and the Spirit of 
God dwell peaceably together. 

3. Have a deep sense of your own ig- 
norance, and of your extreme need of 
the Spirit's teaching. Assuredly, if you 
trust to your own understanding, God 
will leave you to find out that you are a 
fool. If you know enough already, or if 
you have any other sources of know- 
ledge, whether in your education, or your 
talents, or in human teachers, and these 
take the place of the Spirit of God, you 
need not expect his teachings. Ah, how 
few of the learned and the wise are 
really taught of God ! Much more often 
does God ordain praise from the mouths 
of babes and sucklings, for the simple 
reason that they are not too proud and 
self-conceited to be taught from above. 
Yet how infinitely wise and sweet for the 
learned to feel that they know nothing 



224 TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

yet as they would know it, and that they 
may come to the infinite fountain of wis- 
dom in the spirit of a little child. To 
this very point may be applied that grand 
condition announced by our Lord — " Ex- 
cept ye be converted and become as lit- 
tle children, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven.'' At the feet of our 
heavenly Teacher — as it is the only suit- 
able, so it is the only possible place for 
us to receive his precious teachings. 

4. Esteem his teachings above all price. 
You can not prize them too highly. 
What can be more precious than to be 
taught of God? Need I ask you to esti- 
mate its worth by first conceiving of the 
value of the wisest of all human teach- 
ers, then of Gabriel, and so in the ascend- 
ing scale till you approximate, or rather 
seem to approximate towards the wisdom 
of the Infinite ? Such a mode may aid 
an infant's comprehension, but it does lit- 
tle indeed tow r ards giving us a just con- 
ception of the ineffable worth of the 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 225 

Spirit's teaching. Ah, one's mind seems 
forced back upon itself under the view 
of goodness infinite and overpowering! 
How ungrateful then not to prize the 
blessing infinitely above all other sources 
of wisdom and knowledge. 

5. Study the Bible. This may be called 
the text-book of the Spirit. This is the 
basis of his teaching. This is the lesson 
which he gives you to study, and comes 
Himself to explain. Then study it much, 
deeply, practically — I mean for practical 
purposes, and in search of practical truth; 
and above all, study it in conscious and 
deep dependence upon the Spirit's teach- 
ing. 

6. Keep your mind from being dis- 
sipated and polluted with reading or 
thoughts not religious. All such things 
as will not aid you in duty towards God or 
man — why should you have aught to do 
with them at all ? You can not intermed- 
dle with such things either by reading or 
conversation, without peril to your soul. 



226 TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 

They will make their foul impress. They 
will leave their indelible stain. They will 
grieve and repel the Spirit of God. Shall 
the same mind be the joint dwelling 
place of purity and impurity, of wisdom 
and of folly ? Will the Spirit teach you 
while you also take lessons at the feet of 
pollution ? Away then with all that class 
of writing and of conversation that is 
steeped with the Spirit of the w r orld. Its 
temper is selfish, ambitious, proud, sen- 
sual, earthly minded, and what has a child 
of God to do with such things ? Most if 
not all novels and romances belong in 
this class, and an immense amount of the 
idle conversation that fills up society. 
You can have your choice between these 
things and the Spirit of God ; both you 
can not have and need not foolishly ex- 
pect. 

7. Believe that the Spirit is both able 
and willing to teach you. 

How shall I give emphasis enough to 
this point ? Probably most sincere Chris- 



TEACHINGS OF THE SPIRIT. 227 

tians fail here perhaps more than any 
where else. Ah, how little they appre- 
ciate the infinite love of the Spirit, 
prompting intense desires to teach them 
all things, and accomplish all his blessed 
work in their souls. Hence their feeling 
is — " O that we might even with our ut- 
most labor, and by some fortunate turn of 
things, obtain a morsel, a very crumb of 
those great blessings!" Dear child, you 
did not know that in your Father's house 
" there is bread enough and to spare," 
saved on purpose for you, given as freely 
as ever father gave bread to his child. 
And will you not know this and believe 
it ? It is as true as that God is love — as 
true as that Christ has died — as true as 
that the Spirit has come into the world 
to teach and sanctify your soul. 

8. Hence, finally, pray for the Spirit. 
and ask in faith nothing doubting. Know 
assuredly that if you will do what the 
nature of the case requires of you — put 
away your sins and consent to be taught 



228 TEACHINGS OP THE SPIRIT. 

of God and led by his Spirit, the blessing 
is sure and abundant. Why then ask in 
wavering ? Why not honor God by your 
confidence in his love and in his promises? 
Why not open your mouth wide that 
God may fill it with his spiritual blessings 
as he has said ? 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE CHURCH PAST AND FUTURE. 

11 For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and 
for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the 
righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, 
and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burn- 
etii. And the Gentiles shsll see thy righteous- 
ness, and all kings thy glory : and thou shalt 
be called by a new name which the mouth of 
the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a 
crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a 
a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. — Isa. 
62: 1—3. 

E shall do no violence to the 
meaning of this passage, if we 
understand it of Spiritual Zion 
— the real church of God. Viewed in 
this light it presents three points of great 
interest. 

10 




230 THE CHURCH PAST AND FUTURE. 

1. A certain state described which the 
prophet desires avd indeed predicts. 

2. The fact that the Church in this 
state greatly honors her God. 

3. The propheVs hope and prayer in 
regard to the anticipated blessing. 

1. The state described is one in which 
the " righteousness of the Church shall go 
forth as brightness, and its salvation as a 
lamp that burnetii," when the Gentiles 
shall see her righteousness and all kings 
her glory ; " her old name shall no longer 
fit her, but she shall be called by a new 
name, which God Himself shall give her. 
A state like this is seen vividly by means 
of contrast. Who has not seen the con- 
trast of it, and wept over it with bitter 
weeping? Ah, who has not seen the 
Church when her righteousness had lost 
its brightness, when the lustre of her pu- 
rity shone dimly, almost as if it were no 
lustre; and her salvation from her sins 
did not seem glorious like a burning lamp, 
but fading as if it would even go out in 



THE CHURCH PAST AND FUTURE. 231 

utter darkness? Her flame was flicker- 
ing and fitful, often a smoke in the nose 
and not a serene and lovely light ; the 
ungodly saw, not her righteousness and 
glory, but her nakedness and shame, and 
they looked upon her with scornful air 
and said, " Let her light rebuke us no 
more — let her sun go down in darkness, 
and no more expose our doings." There 
was sadness then on the face of those that 
loved Zion, and with sighs, deep from the 
heart, they cried, O Lord our God, how 
long! 

Our Father on high has never said to 
the seed of Jacob, "seek ye me in vain." 
Their deep sighings over Zion meet 
with sympathy in his heart. Ah, He 
too loves Zion, and is not heedless of her 
desolation, nor silent to her uplifted cries 
for help. Therefore has He said that her 
righteousness shall one day go forth as 
brightness, and her salvation as a lamp 
that burneth ; that so the Gentiles shall 
see her righteousness and all kings her 



232 THE CHURCH PAST AND FUTURE. 

glory, and from his own lips she shall 
have a new name, descriptive of her 
new character. 

2. In this state the church shall hon- 
or her Lord. In her state of darkness 
she has not done this. She did profess to 
represent Christ among men — she bore 
his name and had in possession his gos- 
pel, and she said she would follow his 
example, and the world might look on 
and see a reflected image of Jesus ; but 
they looked and alas ! it was the image of 
the world. There were selfishness and 
lust. There were greediness for gain, and 
thirsting for honor. Tauntingly they 
cried ; " This, then, is the religion of 
your Master, and such the life you would 
recommend to us, and such as this, the 
Savior of whom you make your boast/' 

These things have not been hidden 
from his eye who walks among the golden 
candlesticks. For this is the Church 
whom He has espoused as his bride. 
With what feelings then does He look 



THE CHURCH PAST AXD FUTURE. 233 

on her pollution — on her self-sought dis- 
honor ? Jesus had left her in charge with 
his name, and bade her proclaim it with 
her voice and life — >but see what abuse of 
trust ! what a rejection of high privilege! 
what ingratitude for so rich mercies ! He 
would have worn her as his crown of 
glory, and his royal diadem — but she was 
a deep disgrace to his name ! 

A page of prophecy is unrolled, lumin- 
ous with glory — and the scene changes. 
The Church stands forth redeemed, re- 
generated, washed, and made white and 
lovely. I know not how this truth could 
be taught more strikingly, or with more 
thrilling associations, than in our text. 
11 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in 
the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem 
in the hand of thy God." Then Jesus 
shall bear her as his crown. She shall 
adorn his person, and cause his glory to 
be known. So would we have it. So 
it should be. It carries a thrill of joy to 
our bosom to know that Jesus shall one 



234 THE CHURCH PAST AND FUTURE. 

day be honored by a pure and lovely 
church. For then He will see of the 
travail of his soul and be satisfied. The 
blood and the agonies are not in vain. 

3. The prophet's prayers and vows — 
who will not make them most spontane- 
ously and most ardently ? Who will not 
respond " amen ; For Zion's sake will I 
not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's 
sake I will not rest until " this day of 
Zion's purity shall come. Reader, pause 
here, and study this sacred vow. Catch 
the sympathy of this strong, heaven-born 
emotion. Can you not see most clearly 
why you should pour your soul out before 
God like water, for the coming of such a 
day ? Can you think of Christ and his 
church, and see how He has loved it and 
died to redeem it unto Himself a pure 
church and spotless ; and also take into 
view, a world in ruins, yet redeemed by 
Jesus' blood, and to be saved through the 
Church, and still find it hard to pray for 
Zion's transformation? 



THE CHURCH PAST AND FUTURE. 235 

Mark the strength of faith developed 
here. It seems to say, " I know the day 
is coming. I will not hold rny peace, 
therefore, nor take my rest till it comes. 
God has said, and He will do it." O • 
when will the Spirit from on high inspire 
such faith in the hearts of all the sons and 
daughters of Zion ! And when shall God 
for this "be inquired of by the house of 
Israel to do it for them? " 



«*. 




CHAPTER XXXIIL 

god's love for zion. 

" The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than 
all the dwellings of Jacob."— Ps. 87 : 2. 

^ES, the Lord loves the gates of 
Zion, even of his spiritual Zion. 
Most abundantly has He declared 
this, and with most rich and cheering 
similitudes has He represented it. " For 
thy Maker is thine husband ; the Lord 
of hosts is his name : and thy Redeemer 
the Holy One of Israel; The God of the 
whole earth shall He be called. For the 
Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken 
and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, 
when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 
For a small moment have I forsaken thee; 
but with great mercies will I gather thee. 



god's love for zion. 237 

In a little wrath I hid my face from thee 
for a moment ; but with everlasting kind- 
ness will I have mercy on thee, saith the 
Lord thy Redeemer." — ha. 54: 5 — 8. 
O, what love ! what kindness ! what 
promises ! How precious and touching is 
the antithesis of future good over against 
past affliction. A small moment of for«rf 
saking, and everlasting kindness of the 
ingathering ; a little wrath in the hiding 
of his face, but great mercies and everlast- 
ing favo'r in the final shining forth of that 
face on Zion, like the sun in his strength 
and glory. 

Verily, the Lord loves Zion. How am- 
ply has He proved this by his ceaseless 
care of her interests! Often, indeed, 
both in ancient days, and in all days, has 
Zion passed through the fires of tribula- 
tion, and the deep waters of adversity; 
but when has God utterly forsaken her? 
If ever, it was as Himself says, for a small 
moment only. Zion has never lacked 
foes. Oft times they have been many and 
10* 



238 god's love for zion. 

strong, and sure of victory. They have 
thought to crush the infant in the cradle, 
but God took care. They have thought 
to root out the Church, name and memo- 
rial, from under heaven — but God has 
made her live. They have tried upon 
her, shame and fire and faggot ; but all in 
vain. God has been with her in the fiery 
furnace. The history of God's care of 
Zion, and of her victories in the strength 
of her God, is wonderful. It shows that 
of a truth God has loved the gates of Zion 
more than all else that is fair and lovely on 
this footstool of his throne. 

Then God does love his Zion, Let the 
thought dwell in my soul as & living 
reality and a precious consolation. Men 
may revile and hate her. They may cast 
out her name as evil, and mock at her 
hopes, and laugh to scorn her doctrines, 
her labors, her character, and even her 
Lord : but what have I to fear, or what 
cause have I for shame ? Let it ever be 



god's love for zion. 239 

enough for me that Zion has one Friend 
on high. 

The Lord loves Zion. Would that all 
her professed children loved her too. 
But alas ! here are some of her heaviest 
trials. When I see how many love the 
world so much that the love of Christ 
cannot be in them, and how cold is the 
love for Zion in many others : when I 
mark how little, almost to nothing, they 
say or do for Zion's Lord, I am deeply 
grieved and discouraged. With heavy 
sighs, I ask, Will Zion ever arise and 
shine ? Can her God ever have mercy on 
her, and appear in his glory to build up 
her broken walls and crumbling palaces? 
I have one hope. I know the Lord loves 
Zion. 

Yes, and let it animate my faith in 
prayer ; for I know that I have no need 
to move the sympathy of God as if He felt 
not for his suffering cause on earth, and 
for his crucified Son. He does feel for 
these interests incomparably more than I 



240 god's love for zion. 

do or ever can. Alas for Zion ! if there 
were not One on high who loves her 
with more constancy and ardor and 
strength than her sons and daughters on 
earth do. 

It is a precious truth that God loves 
Zion, and well may it strengthen my 
hands to labor for her glorious enlarge- 
ment. For labor done for Zion shall not 
be in vain. Human enterprises may 
come to nought, and disappointment 
crush the fondest hopes of mortals. But 
the great enterprise of redeeming a world 
from sin and of bringing it to the feet of 
Jesus shall not fail. How can it, if the 
Lord loves Zion, and has given her his 
promise that with everlasting kindness 
He will gather her, and to his Son " will 
give the heathen for his inheritance? " 

Yet again, let me remember that the 
Lord loves Zion, and let the recollection 
be my solace as I sympathize with all her 
sorrows and despondings. For she has 
other friends who sympathize in all she 



god's love for zion. 241 

suffers. Yes, she has noble friends, and 
strong deliverers. 

And amid a world whose scorn is some- 
times poured on Zion's people, it may 
well be their consolation and more than 
consolation that in all their love for Zion, 
they feel with God and Christ and all the 
holy. They hold communion in this sym- 
pathy with the infinite God. His heart 
feels like theirs for Zion's interests, and 
Zion's children. And who w T ould not be 
happy in sympathy with God, though the 
universe besides were against him ? 
Who would not deem it his highest glory, 
and a privilege well-bought with a mar- 
tyr's stake, to have the sweet conscious- 
ness of feeling as God feels in the love He 
bears to Zion ? — Reader, this privilege and 
glory may become yours — but is it now? 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

** Wherefore I take you to record this day, that 
I am pure from the blood of all men. For I 
have not shunned to declare unto you all the 
counsel of God."— Acts 20 i 26, 27. 

fAUL here distinctly recognizes the 
doctrine of mutual responsibility* 
He tacitly admits that if he had not 
done certain things* he would stand in 
some sense guilty of the blood of men. 
And such is the fact. Traveling as we 
are in close companionship through life to 
the judgment^ daily throwing forth influ- 
ences which affect for good or ill the char- 
acters of all around us, we must be re» 
sponsible for the good or ill we do— for 
the life or death of souls. In the hand of 



MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY. 243 

every one God has lodged varied powers 
of doing good, or at least, the capacity 
for calling into being, and cultivating such 
powers; and now he justly holds us re- 
sponsible for their use. 

Dear reader, have you ever solemnly 
weighed this great, perhaps to you, ap- 
palling truth ? Have you really contem- 
plated, in all its bearings upon yourself, 
this doctrine that you are personally re- 
sponsible for the spiritual good, yea, the 
salvation of all within the range of and 
to the extent of your possible influence ? 
I beseech you to pause and do it. Do it 
with the judgment-bar before you — do it 
with distinct and glowing apprehensions 
of that farther state which the deeds of 
earth shall stamp with joy or woe unmin- 
gled and eternal. 

Paul discharged these responsibilities, 
and acquitted himself of the blood of all 
men. And how ? Hear his own answer. 
" For I have not shunned to declare unto 
you all the counsel of God." 



244 MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

There were things in God's plan of 
salvation which were unwelcome enough 
to the Ephesians. Paul did not for that 
reason shun to declare them. It was at 
the peril of riot and of life that Paul re- 
sisted there the demons of darkness, and 
the spirit of selfishness ; but without fear 
or favor, he did it. 

Thus he washed himself from their blood. 
Whatever truth they needed, he "shunned 
not to declare." He " kept back nothing 
that was profitable." He bent the mighty- 
energies of his mind and heart to the sal- 
vation of their souls. Thus he discharg- 
ed his responsibilities there. If the guilty 
Ephesians now reject salvation, they do 
it at their peril, and they alone must bear 
it. If the Church lose their first love, 
the guilty deed is their own. They fall 
back in the face of the oft reiterated 
warnings of this servant of Christ, and 
they must bear the rebuke of his Master 
alone 



MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY. 245 

But who stands with Paul in this thing, 
" free from the blood of all men ?" Read- 
er, do you? 

You are a parent perhaps, and your 
children have gathered round your fire- 
side and your table these years, and in 
all your going out and coming in they have 
been with you, molded by your hand and 
your heart,— but how ? for heaven, or for 
hell ? under the sweet influence of a hea- 
venly spirit, of clear instruction, holy 
consecration, struggling prayer, and faith 
in God's precious covenant ; or under the 
deadening influence of a spirit that loves 
earthly good most, that is " careful and 
troubled about many things," and which 
seeks first the honor that comes from 
men ? How is this ? Be assured that if 
the latter has been your spirit and influ- 
ence, the blood of souls must be requir- 
ed at your hand ; the souls of those whom 
you should most long to save, and most 
dread to meet unpardoned before the 
great white throne. 



246 MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

Or among the multiplied relations of 
life, you may be a brother, a sister, a 
husband, a wife, or merely a friend or a 
companion. Be your condition what it 
may, you have immense responsibilities. 
Study them. Say not in your heart that 
they pertain to none but the authorized 
preachers of the gospel. They pertain to 
you. And you must meet them, and in 
them find your account of good or evil 
deeds in the great reckoning day. 

Will these lines meet the eye of one 
who ministers at the altar, bearing his 
commission from God to preach the oft 
unwelcome messages of the divine coun- 
sel ? Christian brother, have you done 
as Paul did ? Can you take to record all 
who know you, that you are pure from 
their blood, and that too on the substan- 
tial ground that you " have not shunned 
to declare to them all the counsel of God?" 
Have you truly declared it all, clearly, 
earnestly, sincerely, with much prayer, 
and a holy life ? Can you follow Paul in 



MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY. 247 

saying to your flock ; " Remember that 
by the space of the years I have been 
with you I have ceased not to warn ev- 
ery one night and day with tears V* ! 
have you labored and wept thus ? 

The answer takes hold of consequen- 
ces infinite. It may seal your doom — a 
"faithful servant, entering the joy of 
your Lord;" or " an unprofitable servant, 
cast out among hypocrites and unbe- 
lievers, where are weeping, and wailing, 
and gnashing of teeth." 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

wise in winning souls. 

" He that winneth souls is wise." — Prov. 11 : 30. 

rTTTiHERE are a few among the multi- 
( } tude of professing Christians who are 
w«& really engaged in winning souls to 
Christ. Would that their number were 
increased a thousand fold ! As a general 
fact, those who are engaged thus with all 
their hearts, are eminently successful. 
The text seems to assert that the success- 
ful laborers in this work are really wise. 
I believe this to be true. Whether they 
have the philosophy of science, or only 
the philosophy of common sense, they 
surely have great practical wisdom. This 
must be quite apparent to any one who 
duly estimates the difficulties they sur- 



WISE IN WINNING SOULS. 249 

mount. What can be a more difficult, 
delicate thing to manage than the sinner's 
heart? Think of the clustering prejudi- 
ces, the confirmed sinful habits, the giant 
powers of temptation, the proud commit- 
tal in evil-doing, and the subtle perver- 
sions of truth, which all combine to 
crowd sinners straight onward in the 
broad road to death. Ah, how few of 
the far-gone are ever reclaimed ! 

Then, conceive of the immense interest 
at stake. He who can manage the desti- 
nies of kingdoms successfully is a wise 
man. How much more is he who can 
rightly move the main-spring of a self- 
moving, deathless spirit — who can skillful- 
ly touch the key-notes which are to re- 
spond forever with the music of heaven, or 
with the wailings of the lost ! 

Reader, will you be one out of the ma- 
ny readers of these lines who will real- 
ly try to save souls? And do you ask 
anxiously, How can it be done ? Then 
I answer, 



250 WISE IN WINNING SOULS. 

1. Sympathize, yourself, with God and 
with Christ. By this I mean that you 
should enter into their feelings ; exercise 
and cherish the benevolence which they 
feel towards the sinner. Let your own 
bosom glow with that love for human 
well-being with which " God so loved the 
world as to give up his Son," and Jesus 
so loved the lost as to come to seek and 
save them, even through the shame and 
agony of the cross. Moreover, you 
must take God's part against the sinner, 
and defend the interests of justice. This 
you must do ; for your business is to con- 
vict the sinner of his wrong against God, 
and persuade him to turn back, confess 
and forsake his guilty rebellion. 

2. You must also sympathize with the 
sinner. Not with his sins however, nor 
exactly with him as a sinner ; but with 
him as a fellow-being, destined to bliss or 
woe immense and eternal, and now de- 
luded and on the brink of ruin. Viewed 
in this relation, you may sympathize with 



WISE IN WINNING SOULS. 251 

him most intensely. Perhaps he is your % 
brother, your husband, or your child. 
Oh, how you may and ought to love his 
well-being ! How intensely should you 
seek to save his soul from the grasp of 
sin, from the doom of the damned ! 

3. Study that sinner's character and 
precise moral condition. Find out where 
he stands, what his views are, what are 
his chief temptations, what kind of bonds 
Satan has thrown round him, and under 
what refuges of lies he is hidden. You 
need to know the points of access. You 
want to get off his triple coat of mail, 
and aim God's sharpened arrows at his 
heart. Perhaps you may reach him in 
the line of his social sympathies. The 
honest tear may melt where the thunder 
of rebuke is powerless. You need to 
know what manner of spirit that is with 
which you have to do. 

4. Study your own heart and your own 
past history. That sinner's heart is much 
like what your own once was. What 



252 WISE IN WINNING SOULS. 

took hold of your mind may take hold of 
his. What always repelled you will 
probably repel him. Much, very much 
you may learn in this line of inquiry. 
The lesson is simple and near at hand, but 
rich with instruction. It is a page of 
wisdom. Clogged with imperfections and 
infirmities as you may be, you have at 
least this one great facility — you have the 
experience of one human heart to guide 
you — your own. Besides this, you have 
some precious ties of sympathy, friend- 
ship, or relationship, by which," if wise, 
you may draw sinners to Christ. In this 
view w r e may see one of the reasons why 
God employs converted sinners and not 
angels in the work of winning souls. 

5. Work with God. Yes, for you can 
hope to do nothing effectually unless both 
your hand and your heart are with God. 
Your heart must be in most close and 
constant communion with Him, so that 
you shall be led by his Spirit. If you set 
about winning souls to emblazon your 



WISE IN WINNING SOULS. 253 

own name, or to build up a party church, 
or for any, even the most refined selfish 
objects, how can you hope for suc- 
cess? Will God smile on your hy- 
pocrisy and bless your selfishness ? Or 
can you convert souls without God's 
blessing ? 

6. You will not forget to pray for God's 
Spirit^ and rely upon it for the real energy 
which gives success. You may plant and 
water, but God gives the increase. And 
"God will yet for this be inquired 
of," as He has said. If you would 
labor with might for God, be mighty 
in prayer. 

7. I am pressed to make one more sug- 
gestion. If you would win souls, try. 
Be not too prudent, or too timid to at- 
tempt it. Be not afraid to begin. Leave 
not the work to others. And do not wait 
even for your minister. Let him do what 
he can, but if he is a man of God, he 
wants you also to do all you can. And 
If he does little or nothing, how much 

11 



254 WISE IN WINNING SOULS. 

greater is the need that you should take 
hold mightily and spare not. Probation 
is wasting ; every heart is growing hard- 
er; your day of effort is passing, and souls 
are dying ; and who now will try to win 
souls to salvation? 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE STONE ROLLED AWAY. 

li Who shall roll away for us the stone from the 
door of the sepulcher V'—Mark, 16: 3. 

HE hour of bitterest pangs had 
come to earth's great Sufferer, 
and all his disciples had forsaken 
Him save the i beloved' one. Should we 
say, all the rest ? Nay, there was another 
little band whose sympathizing hearts 
precluded fear of peri], whose love for 
Jesus drew them close to the scene of his 
last agony. How could they leave Him 
now? 

Christian reader, have you not often 
thought — O, that I had been there ; what 
a luxury it had been to face death from a 
Roman guard, or from infuriated scribes 



256 THE STONE ROLLED AWAY. 

and priests, if I might only have stood by 
the dying Jesus to shed my tears around 
his cross, and throw my look of sympathy 
upon his forsaken, anguished bosom ; if I 
might have soothed one pain, or made 
Him feel that He had yet one friend. 
Add this — If I might also have had grace 
in that hour to slay all fear of death, and 
quicken into flame my love for the Man 
of Calvary. For it would have been sad 
indeed, to have denied the sinner's Friend 
in such an hour ! 

It is an honor to the race that "certain 
women" had courage and love enough to 
stand by and weep around the Crucified 
in his last hours. It is an honor to piety 
and to triumphant grace. They saw 
Him die. Affection stayed not there ; it 
followed the sleeping dead ; watched 
every movement of those who took the 
body, and " saw where He was laid." 
Anon thev hastened and made their 
spices ready, with many tears, no 
doubt, and agitations of soul unutterable ; 



THE STONE ROLLED AWAY. 257 

for they thought the "hope of Israel" 
was gone. 

A Sabbath intervened. O what a Sab- 
bath was that ! Think of those weeping 
"daughters of Jerusalem," gathered in 
some upper chamber, keeping Sabbath — 
the scenes of Calvary all fresh in recol- 
lection, and the morning visit to the tomb 
to anoint the body in anticipation. What 
are they doing ? Are they in prayer, or 
in anxious musings, wondering what shall 
be the end of these things? Has their 
hope fled utterly? or does some angel 
from heaven whisper to their bosoms that 
all shall yet be well ? We do not know. 
But it must have been a trying, solemn 
day. Night came. They woke early, if 
indeed they slept at all. They are hast- 
ening towards the sepulcher. At this 
moment they remember the great stone 
which they saw rolled against the 
door. How shall this difficulty, star- 
ing them in the face, be surmounted? 
"Who," said they, "will roll us away 



258 



THE STONE ROLLED AWAY. 



the stone from the door of the sepul- 
cher?" 

Their business required that they should 
enter. They could not be denied the 
privilege of going in and applying their 
ointment and sweet spices to the cold re- 
mains of Him they loved. What shall 
they do ? It was an emergency — such as 
often occurs in the Christian's life — a 
mountain-barrier, straight across their 
path — a lion in the way ; what can be 
done ? They looked up, and lo, it was 
gone ! The Lord had sent his angel, and 
the stone was no more there ; it was 
very great, but was rolled away. 

So it commonly happens when God's 
people go forward in their work of love, 
daring to face their difficulties, and ven- 
ture to look up. 

Let not this lesson, my brother and 
sister, be forgotten. When God says, go 
forward, be not dismayed. Fear not the 
great stone upon the door. The Lord 
has angels enough to roll that stone 



THE STONE ROLLED AWAY. 259 

away. He would sooner send twelve 
legions of them, than have his work in 
your hands fail, if true love to Jesus 
is leading you on, as it did those de- 
voted sisters, to pour your tears upon 
his cold body, and bestow your costly 
spices and ointments to honor his sacred 
memory. If love to Jesus thus leads 
you through peril, cost and toil, to 
honor your Lord, you need not fear 
the great stone upon the door. God 
will send some messenger of his to roll 
it seasonably away. 

Even feeble woman need not fear. 
The soldier may be there with spear 
and battle-axe and visage stern and 
terrific ; but God's angels are there too. 
Or like the Marys, you may find the 
soldiers gone away before you reach 
the place. Ah, more, you may find the 
Lord Himself there : and the first hint 
of his being risen, may come in that 
well-known, heaven-toned voice, Mary. 
Mary. It would be thrice blessed to 



260 THE STONE ROLLED AWAY. 

meet Jesus so — to meet Him while on 
such an errand to his grave — to meet 
Him while seeking to pay the last honors 
to his mangled, buried, guarded body, 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



ISRAEL — A PRINCE WITH GOD. 



11 1 will not let thee go except thou bless ine." — 
Gen. 32 : 26. 



VipACOB was returning from the coun- 
i f try of Laban to the land of his father's 
s!& sepulchers. An absence of twenty 
years had greatly changed his circum- 
stances. He went forth a young man, 
alone, with no patrimony but a father's 
blessing and a mother's tears and pray- 
ers — save also that covenant promise of 
the Lord who met him on the first even- 
ing of his pilgrimage. But now he re- 
turns with a family of eleven children, 
two wives, and an immense property in 
flocks and herds. All this most striking 
change in his condition, he recognizes as 
11* 



262 ISRAEL A PRINCE WITH GOD. 

the result of Jehovah's covenant mercy, 
His language is pertinent and beautiful ; 
" O God of my father Abraham, and 
God of my father Isaac ; I am not wor- 
thy of the least of all the mercies and of 
all the truth which thou hast shown unto 
thy servant ; for with my staff I passed 
over this Jordan, and now I am become 
two bands." 

His route of return leads him near 
Esau's residence. Well does Jacob re- 
member his brother's ancient grudge, and 
threats to take his life. But he hopes the 
lapse of time has softened his brother's 
keen resentment, so that a conciliating 
message will reach his heart. His mes- 
sengers return with heavy tidings. " We 
came to thy brother Esau" — " he is com- 
ing to meet thee with an army of four 
hundred men." 

Now let us fix our eye on Jacob. It 
is one of the trying hours of his life. He 
saw at a glance that Esau's wrath was 
kindled. He knew that himself had no 



ISRAEL A PRINCE WITH GOD. 263 

physical force to resist a troop of four 
hundred armed men. " I fear him, said 
he, lest he will come and smite the moth- 
er with the children." 

What can he do in this emergency ? 

The utmost that human skill can do 
he promptly does to appease his brother ; 
or, if this effort shall fail, to favor the 
escape of a part of his precious train. He 
sends forward a valuable present-he places 
himself next, hoping to appeal by kind- 
ness to his brother's heart. Then he di- 
vides his family and cattle into two bands 
so that if Esau should smite one of them, 
the other might escape by flight. So 
much for the external arrangements. 

All this, however, is but the outside of 
the matter ; — the heart of Jacob is chief- 
ly occupied on other points incomparably 
more engrossing. His burdened soul 
turns toward his father's God. It fastens 
on the covenant made first with Abra- 
ham, renewed with Isaac, entailed upon 
himself by the birthright, and moreover 



264 ISRAEL— A PRINCE WITH GOD. 

renewed to him most solemnly at BetheL 
There, in that "house of God," the Lord 
had said to him — "Behold, I am with 
thee, and will keep thee in all places 
whither thou goest, and will bring thee 
again into this land ; (0, how did Ja- 
cob's heart hold on upon this fitting 
clause !) for I will not leave thee, until I 
have done that which I have spoken to 
thee of." In this eventful meeting with 
God, Jacob had — so to speak — closed 
the contract; he accepted the covenant 
of his father's God; he made his vow, say- 
ing " If God will be with me and will keep 
me in this way that I go, so that I come 
again to my father's house in peace ; 
then shall the Lord by my God." 

The hour of trial was now come. 
Shall this covenant promise, God had 
given him, be fulfilled ? It seems likely 
to fail. There are deep musings in Ja- 
cob's heart. Ah me, he says, is it possi- 
ble that the course of deception by which 
I obtained the birthright and my father's 



ISRAEL A PRINCE WITH GOD. 265 

blessing is now coming up in judgment 
against me, to be regarded as a forfeit- 
ure of my claim upon that covenant 
promise ? Very likely Jacob thought of 
this. But the covenant had been con- 
firmed to him at Bethel, after all those 
deceptive transactions had occurred; so 
he still pleads its validity. 

But had he not done many things dur- 
ing the past twenty years which might 
be held by the Lord as a forfeiture of the 
original covenant? O how did this ques- 
tion search his soul and put his faith to ' 
the most severe trial ! No doubt he sees 
much sin to confess. The record shows 
that he felt a keen and penetrating sense 
of his own unworthiness. But must this 
fact of his unworthiness compel him to 
forego the promise and fall back upon 
blank despair ? Must he give up all hope 
of help from his father's God ? 

Esau lies but a few miles distant. 
Night comes on. One night only can 
intervene before the momentous ques- 



266 ISRAEL A PRINCE WITH GOD. 

tion of life or death to himself and his 
numerous family must be decided. Oh 
what a night was that to Jacob ! There 
is also another issue involved yet more sol- 
emn. Have I forfeited my covenant with 
my own and my father's God ; or does 
it still stand ? 

The pall of night rests on Arabia's plains. 
The flocks and herds lay them down to 
repose; not so the anxious hearts of the 
mothers and the father. Jacob is alone. 
The great matters at issue between him- 
self and Jehovah assume a tangible, phys- 
ical embodiment, and the angel of the 
covenant, in form " a man," wTestled 
with him till break of day. Thus was 
embodied — so to speak — the mental strug- 
gle of that eventful night, between the 
patriarch and his God. 

We know not all the points involved in 
that most wonderful scene. It is plain, 
however, that Jacob was pleading that 
God would interpose to save him from the 
open jaws of ruin, from a brother's excited 



ISRAEL A PRINCE WITH GOD. 267 

wrath, and that he held on fast upon the 
promise God had given him at Bethel ; — 
" I will not let thee go, except thou bless 
me." 

The narrative, moreover, plainly inti- 
mates that the Lord put Jacob's faith to 
the severest trial. The heaven-sent 
wrestler, unable of a long time to prevail 
against him, touched the hollow of his 
thigh, and put it out of joint. Applying 
this to the mental struggle of prayer, it 
can scarcely mean less than that the 
Lord suffered the dark powers of hell to 
ply their hottest enginery to break down 
Jacob's faith, and drive him from his hold 
upon the covenant. 

But still, through infinite grace, he con- 
quered. Yes, a man, who has held out 
to wrestle all night, and then has his thigh 
put out of joint, still holds on upon his an- 
tagonist as with a death-grasp — " I will 
not let. thee go, except thou bless me." 

And even this is not all. The Lord 
Himself seemed to repel his pleading sup- 



268 ISRAEL A PRINCE WITH GOD. 

pliant. Let me go now, said the wrest- 
ling angel; — we have been struggling 
here all night, and still the question is not 
settled; "let me go, for the day break- 
eth." No, no ! said the unyielding pa- 
triarch ; — no never ; I cannot let go of 
that blessed promise my God made me 
at Bethel ; I cannot relinquish the cove- 
nant made with my fathers ; I cannot 
endure to see my wives and children cut 
to pieces by the cruel sword — no ; I have 
trusted in God these twenty years, and I 
cannot let thee go now ; " — and — " God 
blessed him there." " He called his name 
Israel, because as a prince hast thou pow- 
er with God, ### and hast prevailed." 

Mark also what Hosea (12: 4) says of 
this transaction ; " By his strength he had 
power with God, yea he had power over 
the angel, and prevailed; he wept and made 
supplication unto Him." 

The sequel of the story is soon told. 
Jacob had carried his point by the perse- 
vering faith of that eventful night, and 



ISRAEL A PRINCE WITH GOD. 269 

morning. The Lord put forth his finger 
and touched Esau's heart, and it became 
as water. The brothers met, as brothers 
ever should — in fraternal forgiveness and 
affection. All danger has vanished away. 

But the thoughts, the struggles, the 
agonies of Jacob's mind in that eventful 
night constitute the most thrilling part of 
the w T hole transaction. O, could we see 
the whole, drawn to the life ! Could the 
patriarch himself tell us ! — Perhaps he 
will when we meet him in Paradise. 

Does the course of the Lord to- 
wards Jacob in this long struggle 
seem strange to us ? It may yet 
appear that the little images, hid 
among the favorite Rachel's stuff, had 
something to do in the matter. We may 
remember that the Lord pursued a very 
similar course towards Moses when the 
nation fell into grievous idolatry. It 
seemed then as if He would utterly refuse 
to be bound any longer by his covenant 
with their fathers. And nothing seemed 



270 ISRAEL A PRINCE WITH GOD. 

to change his averse attitude, except the 
most urgent, importunate pleading of Mo- 
ses ; — nay more — nothing but Moses ? 
throwing himself between the guilty peo- 
ple and the drawn sword of Jehovah, 
seeming to say — "Smite me first, but spare 
the nation, and remember thy holy cove- 
nant. Else, what wilt thou do for the 
honor of thy great name ?" 

The scenes of Jacob's prayer and tri- 
umph are full of most choice instruction 
and encouragement. Many a Christian 
parent has passed through similar scenes 
in prayer for the conversion of his chil- 
dren of the covenant. 

Christian parent, are you wont thus 
to hold on ? Do you say most humbly 
— yet with most fixed purpose — " I will 
not let thee go, except thou bless me ? " 



CHAPTER XXXVHL 

ASCRIPTIONS FOR REDEEMING LOVE. 

" Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from 
our sins in his own blood, and hath made us 
kings and priests unto God and his Father ; to 
Him be glory forever and ever." — Rev. 1: 5, 6. 

Y?T is sweet to fall into the current of 
\ # holy feeling which flows through the 
W«* soul of such a Christian as the exile 
of Patmos. There he w r as, a wanderer, 
but not from his God — under sentence of 
banishment, but not from the bright 
visions of the glory of Jesus. Happy for 
him that he had forsaken houses and lands 
and earthly favor and all selfish pleasure 
for Christ's sake; for he received his hun- 
dred fold more in the present life accord- 
ing to the promise. No matter to him 



272 ASCRIPTIONS FOR 

that the wrath of man fell on him in 
sore tribulation ; the presence of Jesus is 
enough. Mark how his soul flows forth 
in deep emotions of adoration, ascriptions, 
and praise. " To Him that loved us and 
washed us from our sins in his own blood, 
and hath made us kings and priests unto 
God and his Father ; to Him be glory and 
dominion forever. Amen." Praise and 
glory to Him that hath loved us — and 
why not ? Think of that love. From its 
own native home in the heavens, it sought 
out a rebel and a worm of the earth. It 
pitied — it came — it made the sacrifice of 
Calvary — it lives again on high to pour its 
blessings unmeasured and unmerited on 
such a soul as mine. 

" And washed us from our sins in his 
own blood." Shall we stop here and 
coldly analyze and speculate upon the 
creed of this saint of God ; or shall we 
throw ourselves into the holy current of 
his soul, and flow on with him forever ? 
We will leave the cold-hearted dissection 



REDEEMING LOVE. 273 

of his theology to those who have a 
taste for it. It is easy to catch his mean- 
ing — would that we might also catch his 
spirit ! He is conscious of being at peace 
with God through Jesus. He knows that 
his sins are blotted out, and he feels him- 
self to have gained the victory over his 
own reigning corruptions. We need not 
stop to ask whether this victory is perfect 
■ — he calls it a " victory" (1 John 5 : 4.) 
Nor whether, being yet on earth, he is 
sinless. He doubtless in his simplicity 
said what he meant and what he felt. 
He is washed from his sins in the blood of 
Christ. He is conscious of being changed, 
and he can not help adoring the grace 
which hath done it — the power of that 
blood of the cross which both bought 
pardon and effected the cleansing. And 
why should he not adore and magnify 
such efficiency ? Who that has leaned 
on Jesus' bosom as he had, and felt his 
soul absorbed with love to the brethren, 
as his had been for a long life — who that 



274 ASCRIPTIONS FOR 

has passed from death in sin and selfish- 
ness into such newness of life, can sup- 
press the bursting emotions of wonder and 
praise, when he thinks of "Him who 
hath loved us, and washed us from our 
sins in his own blood ?" 

But the wonders of grace are not yet 
exhausted. Not for nothing were we 
washed from our sins, and surely not that 
we should return to our " wallowing"— 
but to be made "kings and priests unto 
God" even the "Father!" O, the un- 
merited exaltation ! How the soul sinks 
into the dust under the painful yet pleas- 
ing sense of utter unworthiness and emp- 
tiness ! 

But all is of grace. And it is blessed 
to think that this grace will be magnified 
through all heaven and during everlasting 
ages, because it did raise from dust and 
guilt and pollution such beings as we, and 
make us kings and priests unto God the 
Father. We will join in the song even 
now, and swell its everlasting strains. We 



REDEEMING LOVE. 275 

will cast our crowns at the foot of that 
throne, (we can now,) and strive to be 
lost ourselves in the universal glory and 
homage that are given and belong to 
Him that sits on the throne and to the Lamb 
forever and ever. Yes, let us be lost in it, 
O, to be nothing, that God may be all 1 
O! to be seen and known only as monu- 
ments of his surprising love and unutter- 
able grace, to pour out our songs and our 
very souls before the throne, and before 
all the blest throng, ascribing thanksgiv- 
ing, and glory, and honor, and praise, to 
Him who only is worthy of all forever! ! 
Dear reader, are thy sympathies all in 
harmony with that song? Already are 
they attuned to the melody of heaven? 
Even now do they catch the hallowed 
strain ? Fain would I charm your soul 
upward, and bring it within the attraction 
of that thrilling song ; but how powerless 
are words like mine, and indeed all mere 
words towards such a result. God must 
do it. His Spirit can. Sought and relied 



276 ASCRIPTIONS FOR REDEEMING LOVE* 

on by faith He will. To that blest Agent, 
dear reader of these pages, I commend 
thee, that he may wash thy soul from sin, 
and waken within thee the sympathies and 
holy aspirations that glowed in the bosom 
of him " whom Jesus loved." 



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